Re: Warning of unknown sender of emails with virus attachments
- Subject: Re: Warning of unknown sender of emails with virus attachments
- From: K* W*
- Date: Tue, 07 Aug 2001 16:36:54 -0700
David,
You are absolutely correct. That message signals the Sircam virus. I've
received at least 10 copies of it in the past few weeks. Usually the people
from whom the message originates are innocent victims whose computers have
been infected by the virus.
As you pointed out, the wording of the message whose attachments are
actually infected with this virus is always the same. So, if any of you
receive this message DO NOT open the attachment--delete it immediately.
Just receiving and reading the email will not infect your computer. You
have to open the attachment.
Anyone who opens one of these "suspicious attachments" will have their
computer infected. However, whether or not they unwittingly pass the virus
along depends on what email program they are using. As far as I know, this
virus can only propagate itself to other computers by means of Microsoft
Outlook. In the case of such users, the virus chooses a file from the
victim's computer at random, infects it with the virus, and then sends it
out to everyone in the victim's Microsoft Outlook address book.
Those using other email programs will have their computers infected if they
open the attachments but will at least not unwittingly infect other
computers. I happen to know this for a fact because, in spite of the fact
that I design web sites for a living and have used email extensively for
the past 6 years and SHOULD KNOW BETTER, I foolishly opened an infected
file because it came from somebody I knew. I did this even though I thought
the message looked a little bit weird! However, fortunately I use Eudora
for my email program so I didn't pass the infection along to anyone else.
Hope this helps (and sorry for it's being completely off-topic),
Katherine Waser
At 03:19 PM 8/7/01 -0700, david feix wrote:
>To all at medit-plants;
>
>I keep receiving e-mails from various people that
>always have the following wording and always contain
>an attachment as well, which I suspect contains a
>virus and should not be opened. The wording is always
>the same, but the sender is constantly changing. I
>just wanted to warn others at medit-plants in case
>they are getting a similar unsolicited email with a
>suspicious attachment.
>
>The message always reads as follows:
>
>> Hi! How are you?
>>
>> I send you this file in order to have your advice
>>
>> See you later. Thanks
>>
>
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger
>http://phonecard.yahoo.com/
>
>
>
****************************************************************************
Katherine Waser, Editor Tel: 520-621-8584
Arid Lands Information Center Fax: 520-621-3816
The University of Arizona E-mail: kwaser@ag.arizona.edu
1955 E. 6th St.
Tucson, AZ 85719-5224
USA
