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ABC ~ All
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Parker's Mailbox Viruses,
Worms, Trojan Horses & Hoaxes
My article this month does not apply
only to Outlook in a networked environment. It concerns the greatest
danger of using e-mail – the possibility of your PC being infected by a
virus, a worm or a Trojan horse. For simplicity, I will refer to them all
as viruses. The problem of viruses in e-mail and e-mail attachments
affects anyone who receives e-mail, no matter what program they use.
Outlook, however, is the biggest target of virus writers since it is the
most widely used e-mail program in the world. What are worms, viruses, and Trojan horses?
A
Hoax is simply a lie about a mythical
virus. The intent of the creator of a hoax is to spread the lie as widely
and as long as possible. There are four sources that can introduce viruses to your computer – removable media (floppy disks, Zip disks & CDs), the Internet, e-mail, & networks. In order to absolutely avoid getting and spreading computer viruses: 1. Never open an e-mail. 2. Never use the Internet. 3. Never use any removable media. 4. Never network your computer. If you follow these rules you will
never, ever get a virus. You will also be doing business like it was
done 15 years ago, so obviously these rules are not workable! E-Mail is the culprit. The most common method of infection
today is e-mail. And, just when you thought you were safe from viruses if
you did not open e-mail attachments, along comes a smarter worm.
Just highlighting an e-mail in your inbox or having Outlook set for
previewing can activate a worm. No human interaction is required! Windows
has the ability to run scripts and controls automatically. Outlook
Express, and in some case, Outlook, will automatically activate certain
types of files just because they are in the viewing windows and therefore,
considered active. It is dangerous to preview e-mail
because the preview itself can activate some types of worms. Virus writers
know this, which is why they are now creating these more advanced types of
worms that run independently. It's much safer to use Outlook than
Outlook Express. Think about how you have to double click on a picture and
view it in another application when using Outlook. But, if you use Outlook
Express, you'll see it right away because Outlook Express will activate
the .jpg or .gif file. Outlook, however, has been designed for
corporate use as part of the Microsoft Office suite. Microsoft seems to
pay more attention to security in that program than in Outlook Express,
which comes free with Windows and Internet Explorer. So if you have
Outlook, use it - it’s safer. What can you do to protect against these new viruses?
If you work at home, make sure that you follow the same procedures there that you do at work. Viruses can easily be brought into a network by work that has been done on a home PC. How can you tell if you are infected? Look for these warning signs:
What do you do if you strongly suspect you are infected and are in a corporate environment? 1. Turn off your computer. DO NOT click Start>Shut Down>Shut Down the Computer. That takes too long. Simply push the power button and hold it until the computer shuts off. This will prevent continued spread of the virus. 2. Inform your
IT department immediately and let them handle the problem. Do not panic or
interrupt other users. What if your company does not have its own IT department? What if you are infected with a virus on your home PC? What should you do? 1. The first thing to do when you realize you are infected is to disconnect your computer from your Internet connection. This will limit the spread of the virus. If you have an “always on” connection, such as a network, cable modem, or DSL, physically unplug the connection from your PC. 2. If your virus definitions are up to date and you simply neglected to scan an attachment, scan it now to determine which virus has infected your computer. 3. If you need to update your definitions in order to scan for the virus, try to download the definitions using another computer and transfer them to your PC using diskettes or a CD. 4. Once you have
determined the name of the virus, find the removal instructions on the
website of your anti-virus software (again, using another computer), and
follow them step-by-step. It is very important to follow the instruction
precisely. If you skip a step, you can exacerbate the problem. Be very
careful when making changes to the registry and other system files. You
can inadvertently do more damage than the virus if you delete the wrong
file. What about virus hoaxes? There has been a proliferation of
viruses in the computer world (over 50,000), and now we have a
proportionately large proliferation of virus hoaxes. If you receive a
virus warning by e-mail how can you determine if it is a legitimate
warning or a hoax? If you have an IT department, forward the virus warning
to them. They can confirm whether or not it is a hoax. Isn’t it better to be safe than sorry? Shouldn’t you warn all your co-workers, friends, and relatives? NO! Do not forward these warnings to anyone else. If you forward the warning to 25 people and each of them send it to 25 people, and they each send it to 25 people, and they each send it to 25, and they each send it to 25, the result is 9,765,625 e-mails! If it takes each person 60 seconds to read the message, that is 162,760 hours spent reading the hoax message. At a pay rate of just $15.00 per hour, that is a cost of $2,441,400 in lost productivity! Additionally, all those e-mails clog the worlds e-mail systems with junk messages. How can you recognize a hoax? Remember
these 10 warning signs:
The following is an actual virus hoax e-mail. Many thousands of people have forwarded the "Budweiser Frog" virus hoax to other e-mail users, thus keeping it in circulation for years. See how many of the hoax warning signs it has: Subject: READ IMMEDIATELY AND PASS ON! Someone is sending out a very cute screensaver of the Budweiser Frogs. If you download it, you will lose everything! Your hard drive will crash and someone from the Internet will get your screen name and password! DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! It just went into circulation yesterday. Please distribute this message. This is a new, very malicious virus and not many people know about it. This information was announced yesterday morning from Microsoft. Please share it with everyone that might access the Internet. Once again, pass this along
to EVERYONE in your address book so that this may be stopped.
AOL has said that this is a very dangerous virus and that
there is NO remedy for it at this time. If a virus warning you receive passes the warning signs test, you should still verify it before forwarding it. You can check with one of the sites that debunk hoaxes and urban legends, such as: http://www.europe.datafellows.com/news/hoax.htm http://www.scambusters.org/legends.html As you can see, using e-mail makes you a target of virus and hoax writers. Is e-mail worth all the trouble? Apparently so, since it is used by hundreds of millions of people around the world and many businesses could not even function without e-mail. Are some e-mail programs more secure than others? Certainly, but none are secure if you do not take these precautions and exercise some common sense. So, as Sgt. Phillip Esterhaus, of Hill Street Blues always says:
© MTM Enterprises, Inc. Parker Renaud is the one-man IT department at Colliers Keenan where he manages 90 PCs on 5 servers. |
,
A
Worm
is
a program that operates independently (it does not attach itself to other
programs), leaves destruction in its path, such as re-formatting your hard
drive, deleting system files, opening security portals, etc., and may be
able to transmit itself, via networks, e-mail, or the Internet, to other
locations.
