Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/02/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 02:14 PM 2/17/98 , you wrote: >forwarded message.. > >If you receive an email titled "JOIN THE CREW" DO NOT open it. It will erase >everything on your hard drive. Forward this email out to as many people as >you can. This is a new, very malicious virus and not many people know about >it. This information was announced yesterday morning from IBM; > > Also, do not open or even look at any mail that says "RETURNED OR UNABLE TO >DELIVERY" This virus will attach itself to your computer components and >render them useless. Immediately delete any mail items that say this. AOL >has said that this is a very dangerous virus and that there is NO remedy for >it at this time. Please practice cautionary measures and forward this to all >your online friends ASAP It turns out this is a hoax, in that there is no 'join the crew' email floating around destroying the content of hard drives. But if you wanted to write an email virus, one that would propagate wildly, consume untold resources on mail servers everywhere, and waste untold amounts of peoples' time, I suspect that your first step would be to write a piece of email that contained the immortal words: "forward this to all your online friends ASAP" in the hopes that the recipient would then forward it to untold hundreds of people, who would in turn forward it to untold hundreds of people, who would in turn.... - -Paul