[EMAIL PROTECTED] enscribed thusly:
> I have seen at least two messages containig "happy99.exe". My first thought was
> also "this must be a virus". I detached the file an ran Sophus Anti.virus Sweep
> on the file, but no virus was detected. Sweep was last updated 99-01-04 so it
> should be fairly up to date. Still I did not run it.
It's a self propaging worm. It could have been MUCH worse.
The script kiddies have a new toy. I think someone called it
"celophane". It lets them take some silly game or graphic animation or
animated greeting card and marry it to a virus head plus Back Orifice
or Netbus (Netbus is MUCH worse that BO - Netbus will attack Windows NT).
They then seed these things out and about and wait for people to
pick them up and trade them with their friends. A few weeks after infecting
the chumps system, the Netbus core goes off and contacts cracker sites or
IRC channels and lets all the ankle-bitters know that the system is
available for attack.
Since they can crank several of these out a night, the virus checkers
don't have a chance. It would take a month or more before a virus checker
would spot a new one, and by then it's too late. Even assuming that you
are constantly upgrading your virus checker, you don't stand a chance.
A virus checker can only tell you that it IS dangerous. It can't
tell you that it's not! Don't rely on virus checkers to indicate something
is safe and never EVER execute something someone sends you via E-Mail,
EVEN IF YOU KNOW THAT PERSON! These things are like STDs. It doesn't
matter if you trust the person sending it to you. Do you trust the person
who sent it to him and the one that sent it to them? It can pass through
dozens of hands long before any of the virus checkers can spot it.
> /Anders - SM5BVS
Mike
--
Michael H. Warfield | (770) 985-6132 | [EMAIL PROTECTED]
(The Mad Wizard) | (770) 925-8248 | http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
NIC whois: MHW9 | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471 | possible worlds. A pessimist is sure of it!
