Avoid Hoaxes
If you have had an email that warns you about an unlikely-sounding new virus, offers you a free mobile phone, or asks you to update your bank account details, you have been the victim of a hoax. Hoax mail can interrupt work, overload mail systems, or even trick you into giving personal credentials and passwords to criminals.
'...Hoax warnings are typically scare alerts started by malicious people - and passed on by innocent users who think they are helping the community by spreading the warning...' (F-Secure Hoax Alert)
'...Rumours (often distributed by well-meaning users) of viruses which supposedly infect the user when he or she reads an e-mail message ('Good Times', 'Penpal Greetings', 'Irina', 'Deeyenda Maddick',etc.); the truth is that simple text messages do not contain viruses...' (Dr Solomon's Virus Center)
Tip: Please do not forward your virus warnings without checking for a real virus or a hoax.
Virus hoaxes
Virus hoaxes are reports of non-existent viruses. Usually they are emails which do some or all of the following:
- Warn you that there is an undetectable, highly destructive new virus.
- Ask you to avoid reading emails with a particular subject line, e.g. Join the Crew or Budweiser Frogs.
- Claim that the warning was issued by a major software company, internet provider or government agency, e.g. IBM, Microsoft, AOL or the FCC.
- Claim that a new virus can do something improbable, e.g. The A moment of silence hoax says that “no program needs to be exchanged for a new computer to be infected”.
- Use techno-babble to describe virus effects, e.g. Good Times says that the virus can put the PC’s processor into “an nth-complexity infinite binary loop”.
- Urge you to forward the warning.
Hoax or not?
On April 1, 2000 an email headed Rush-Killer virus alert began circulating. It warned of viruses that dial 911 (the US emergency number), and urged you to forward the warning. The email had the hallmarks of a hoax, but the virus was real. It’s difficult to tell a hoax from a real warning; follow the advice in the “How to avoid hoaxes” section.
Why virus hoaxes matter?
Hoaxes can be as disruptive and costly as a genuine virus. If users do forward a hoax warning to all their friends and colleagues, there can be a deluge of email. This can overload mail servers and make them crash. The effect is the same as that of the real Sobig virus, but the hoaxer hasn’t even had to write any computer code. It isn’t just end-users who overreact. Companies who receive hoaxes often take drastic action, such as closing down a mail server or shutting down their network. This cripples communications more effectively than many real viruses, preventing access to email that may be really important. False warnings also distract from efforts to deal with real virus threats. Hoaxes can be remarkably persistent too. Since hoaxes aren’t viruses, your anti-virus software can’t detect or disable them.
Can hoaxes inspire viruses?
A hoax can inspire a real virus threat, or vice versa. After the Good Times hoax made headlines, some virus writers waited until it had been debunked and then wrote a real virus with the same name (some anti-virus firms call it GT-Spoof).
How to avoid hoaxes?
Have a company policy on virus warnings
Set up a company policy on virus warnings, for example: “Do not forward any virus warnings of any kind to ANYONE other than the person responsible for anti-virus issues. It doesn’t matter if the virus warnings come from an anti-virus vendor or have been confirmed by a large computer company or your best friend. ALL virus warnings should be sent to name of responsible person only. It is their job to notify everybody of virus warnings. A virus warning which comes from any other source should be ignored.” Keep informed about hoaxes
Keep informed about hoaxes
by visiting the hoaxes pages on Anti-Virus websites
Don’t forward chain mail
Don’t forward chain mail, even if it offers you rewards for doing so, or claims to be distributing useful information. Don’t trust links in unsolicited email If you want to visit your bank’s website, or any site where you enter passwords or confidential information, don’t follow links in unsolicited email or newsgroups. Enter the address yourself, or use a bookmark or “favourites” link.
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