LZ: Re: INTERNET VIRUS ALERT (FWD)
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> From: Craig J Hawkins <cjhawkin@mtu.edu>
> To: hu101-culture-l@mtu.edu
> Cc: davec@lsi.sel.sony.com; w@ellerbruch.nmu.edu;
list-zshell@lists.ticalc.org
> Subject: LZ: INTERNET VIRUS ALERT (FWD)
> Date: Thursday, October 10, 1996 1:43 PM
>
> READ CAREFULLY AND FORWARD TO EVERYONE!!!!!!!!
>
> The message sent to me and others read:
>
> There is a computer virus that is being sent across the Internet. If you
> receive an email message with the subject line "Good Times", DO NOT
> read the message, DELETE it immediately. Please read the messages
> below.
>
> Some miscreant is sending email under the title "Good Times"
> nationwide,
> if you get anything like this, DON'T DOWN LOAD THE FILE! It has a virus
> that rewrites your hard drive, obliterating anything on it.
>
> Please be careful and forward this mail to anyone you care about.
>
> The FCC released a warning last Wednesday concerning a matter of major
> importance to any regular user of the Internet. Apparently a new
> computer
> virus has been engineered by a user of AMERICA ON LINE that is
> unparalleled
> in its destructive capability. Other more well-known viruses such as
> "Stoned", "Airwolf" and "Michaelangelo" pale in comparison to the
> prospects of this newest creation by a warped mentality. What makes this
> virus so terrifying, said the FCC, is the fact that no program needs to
> be exchanged for a new computer to be infected. It can be spread through
> the existing email systems of the Internet.
>
> Once a Computer is infected, one of several things can happen. If the
> computer contains a hard drive, that will most likely be destroyed. If
> the
> program is not stopped, the computer's processor will be placed in an
> nth-complexity infinite binary loop -which can severely damage the
> processor if left running that way too long.
>
> Unfortunately, most novice computer users will not realize what is
> happening until it is far too late. Luckily, there is one sure means of
> detecting what is now known as the "Good Times" virus. It always travels
> to new computers the same way in a text email message with the subject
> line reading "Good Times". Avoiding infection is easy once the file has
> been received simply by NOT READING IT! The act of loading the file into
> the mail server's ASCII buffer causes the "Good Times" mainline program
> to initialize and execute.
>
> The program is highly intelligent- it will send copies of itself to
> everyone whose email address is contained in a receive-mail file or a
> sent-mail file, if it can find one. It will then proceed to trash the
> computer it is running on.
>
> The bottom line is: - if you receive a file with the subject line "Good
> Times", delete it immediately! Do not read it" Rest assured that who's
> ever
> name was on the "From" line was surely struck by the virus. Warn your
> friends and local system users of this newest threat to the Internet!
> It could save them a lot of time and money.
>
> Could you pass this along to your global mailing list as well?
>
> DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY FILE NAMED PKZIP300 REGARDLESS OF THE EXTENSION
>
> We work closely with the military and received this message from a very
> reliable source in Washington DC this morning.
>
> A NEW Trojan Horse Virus has emerged on the internet with the name
> PKZIP300.ZIP, so named as to give the impression that this file is a new
> version of the PKZIP software used to "ZIP" (compress) files.
>
> DO NOT DOWNLOAD this file under any circumstances!!! If you install or
> expand this file, the virus WILL wipe your hard disk clean and affect
> modems at 14.4 and higher. This is an extremely destructive virus and
> there is NOT yet a way of cleaning up this one.
>
> REPEAT: DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY FILE NAMED PKZIP300 REGARDLESS OF THE
> EXTENSION.
>
> Ciao
>
> Marco Leccese
The good times virus was a prank, it is impossible to get a virus by
reading an e-mail.
References: