bruce w. ritchings wrote:
>> Dear Microbiologists:
> This is serious business, please read.. Bruce Ritchings,
> University of Florida
> The following message comes from our sysop at the University
> of Florida:
>> This warning was just passed to me concerning an email virus.
> Please read.
> *****************************************************************
>> IN CASE YOU HADN'T HEARD...
>> If anyone receives mail entitled: PENPAL GREETINGS! please
> delete it WITHOUT reading it. Below is a little explanation
> of the message, and what it would do to your PC if you were
> to read the message.
>
< snip >
I recieved a warning similar to this recently concerning the "Deeyenda
Virus" which turned out to be a hoax. Maybe this could be passed on to
your sysop.
Check out http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/data/penpal.html and
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html .
Both sites state that Penpal Greetings is a hoax.
In part from www.symantec.com:
Penpal Greetings is not a virus. It is a hoax. The "virus" does not
exist. There is currently no virus that has the characteristics ascribed
to Penpal Greetings.
The e-mail message describing the virus is similar to the original Good
Times virus e-mail hoax. It could even be described as a virus hoax
strain.
In part from ciac.llnl.gov:
PENPAL GREETINGS! Warning Hoax
The PENPAL GREETINGS! Hoax shown below appears to be an attempt to kill
an e-mail chain letter by claiming that it is a self starting Trojan
that destroys your hard drive and then sends copies of itself to
everyone whose address in in your mailbox. Reading an e-mail message
does not run it nor does it run any attachments, so this Trojan must be
self starting. Aside from the fact that a program cannot start itself,
the Trojan would also have to know about every different kind of e-mail
program to be able to forward copies of itself to other people. This
warning is totally a hoax.
Sincerely,
Ean Warren
