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Virus Warnings
Computer viruses are a real and present danger to your computer system. But you shouldn't normally fear as long as your antivirus program's virus definition files are up to date and you exercise caution in opening attachments. Still, the fear of computer viruses seems to be partly out of not understanding how they work. Thus, tons of pointless virus warnings.
Being a network administrator from time to time and being hooked in to the industry, I receive my share of virus warnings. A very few are legit. How to tell a legit virus warning from a non-legitimate one? (Note I count non-legitimate warnings as those that announce a 'new' virus which has been around for years and is mostly 'extinct' in the wild.)
- First and always first, check the source. Is this virus warning from your neophyte email-using aunt who heard it from a neighbor's friend's second cousin's former roommate? If yes, you might want to take it with a grain of salt. Or is it actually from a person with the title of Network Administrator, Network Security Administrator, or something similar? That's a bit more likely to be real.
- Check the original attribution of the source. There are certain entities that DO research and announce new viruses to the general computer users' community, and AOL isn't one of them. Neither is IBM, Microsoft, nor Dell. (Note that IBM does have a virus research center, but does not release virus warnings to the general public.) Companies like Computer Associates, Symantec, McAfee, and Datafellows (not a comprehensive list) DO research and announce new viruses (as well as other computer security-related topics.)
- You can't, repeat, cannot, become 'infected' with a computer virus from an e-mail message unless you open an attachment OR your e-mail client (such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Netscape Messenger) are configured to automatically open attachments. They are not configured to do so by default. In other words, the recipient (you) of an e-mail virus has to perform some action on their own to become infected. Simply receiving the message is not enough.
- It should be obvious but I'll state it anyway: You cannot receive a real (human vector) virus through e-mail. You also can't get AIDS from a toilet seat, by the way.
- You can receive a virus by visiting a web site, but you have to configure your browser in a certain way for that to happen, and they are not configured to do so by default. It is very rare that a virus is distributed through a web site, and you have to try very hard to contract it that way.
- In general, do not forward virus warnings to everyone on your email list until you have checked the veracity of the warning, either with one of the sites below or with your network administrator. Especially do not forward them to everyone in your company -- that's your network administrator's job! If you ARE a network administrator, your responsibility lies in checking with one or more of the sites below (or another trusted antivirus site) BEFORE you forward such a warning to your company's employees. (And yes, I have known some network admins to mindlessly forward bogus warnings.)
Virus warning
hoax and general antivirus sites:
U.S.
Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability
CERT
Computer Virus Resources
Datafellows
Hoax Warnings
Symantec
Anti Virus Research Center
McAfee Associates
Virus Hoax List
Related topic: Please see Internet Scams & Spams.
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