Better yet, do not enter an email address for !000 at all. Phil
----- Original Message ----- From: "Aaron Laudi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "security-basics" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2001 12:40 PM Subject: Good Idea? > Does this make sense to you guys? One of my users sent it to me. It sounds > good in theory. > > > ------------------------------------------------------ > > Subject: Good Idea > > I received a computer trick today that's really ingenious in its simplicity. > As you may know, when/if a worm virus gets into your computer it heads > straight for your email address book and sends itself to everyone in there, > thus infecting all your friends and associates. This trick won't keep the > virus from getting into your computer, but it will stop it from using your > address book to spread further, and it will alert you to the fact that the > worm has gotten into your system. > > Here's what you do: first, open your address book and click on "new contact" > just as you would do if you were adding a new friend to your list of email > addresses. In the window where you would type your friend's first name, type > in !000 (that's an exclamation mark followed by 3 zeros). In the window > below where it prompts you to enter the new email address, type in > WormAlert. Then complete everything by clicking add, enter, ok, etc. > > Now, here's what you've done and why it works: the "name" !000 will be > placed at the top of your address book as entry #1. This will be where the > worm will start in an effort to send itself to all your friends. But when it > tries to send itself to !000, it will be undeliverable because of the phony > email address you entered (WormAlert). If the first attempt fails (which it > will because of the phony address), the worm goes no further and your > friends will not be infected. > > Here's the second great advantage of this method: if an email cannot be > delivered, you will be notified of this in your InBox almost immediately. > Hence, if you ever get an email telling you that an email addressed to > WormAlert could not be delivered, you know right away that you have the worm > virus in your system. You can then take steps to get rid of it! > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > ------- > > > aaron laudi > webcast technician -- stylus strategic communication > e [EMAIL PROTECTED] > t 514-288-8613 > >
