Virus Alert - Be Careful

[Russinator]

THIS ONE IS REAL!!! I JUST RECEIVED ONE TWO DAYS AGO. Fortunately I didn't open it because I had seen this.....


BAD Virus ---CNN announced -- Snopes confirms as real.




Here is a link to the snopes page:

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp (http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp)

(ihttp:// www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp (http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp)


PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT LIST!!

A new virus has just been discovered that has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive ever. This virus was discovered yesterday afternoon by McAfee . This virus simply destroys Sector Zero from the hard disk, where vital information for its functioning are stored.
This virus acts in the following manner:
It sends itself automatically to all contacts on your list with the title:
"You've received a Post Card from a Family member". </B>

As soon as the supposed virtual card is opened the computer freezes so that the user has to reboot. When the ctrl+alt+ del keys or the reset button are pressed, the virus destroys Sector Zero, thus permanently destroying the hard disk. Yesterday in just a few hours this virus caused panic in New York , according to news broadcast by CNN.

This alert was received by an employee of Microsoft itself.
So don't open </U></B>any mails with subject: "A Post Card from ..</B>" As soon as you get the mail, delete it </B>!! Even if you know the sender !!!

Please pass this mail to all of your friends. </B>

[nkeevers]

Thanks for letting us know...I passed it on.

[Rusty]

when you get stuff like this it's always worth the effort to check; this is what I got from Norton's website by simply entering "sector zero":

Discovered: January 10, 2001
Updated: February 13, 2007 11:55:30 AM
Type: Hoax


Numerous variants in several languages of this hoax have been circulated. The Virtual Card for You is a hoax that should be ignored. Several examples of these hoaxes are as follows:

English

Example 1
Virus Alert VIRUS WARNING To ALL INTERNET USERS:

A new virus has just been discovered that has been classified by Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) and by McAfee (www.mcafee.com) as the most destructive ever!

This virus was discovered yesterday afternoon by McAfee and no vaccine has yet been developed. This virus simply destroys Sector Zero from the hard disk, where vital information for its functioning are stored.

This virus acts in the following manner: It sends itself automatically to all contacts on your list with the title "A Virtual Card for You".

As soon as the supposed virtual card is opened, the computer freezes so that the user has to reboot. When the ctrl+alt+del keys or the reset button are pressed, the virus destroys Sector Zero, thus permanently destroying the hard disk.

Please distribute this message to the greatest number of people possible. Yesterday in just a few hours this virus caused panic in New York, according to news broadcast by CNN www.cnn.com). This alert was received by an employee of Microsoft itself.


Rusty :)

[echoblue]

Yes, it's a real virus and thanks for the alert. :)

But in fact it doesn't destroy the hard disk - what it does is download malicious software that gets installed in the background and gives access to spammers, who in turn will use the compromised PC in order to send more spam e-mails.

Just for the record, resetting a hard drive's boot sector does not damage it physically. What happens is that any data saved on the disk will be lost, but the hardware itself will remain usable. :)

[RobertSchuldenfrei]

Hi Russ,

I looked at Snopes and indeed they do warn you that this is real. However, there was no mention of the boot track destroyer. Here is the Snopes reference:
http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp
I followed the link to McAfee and the issue seemed to be less dangerous:
http://vil.nai.com/vil/Content/v_142621.htm
For me, the gold standard is Symantec. They mention various trojans, but nothing linked to the term postcard as described by Snopes.

The bottom line here is never open e.mail messages that you cannot authenticate. People, use a little common sense. Stay away from "strange" websites. (Why would you want to anyway when you can have so much fun here:))

Thanks for the warning Russ. There is always something new from the bad guys.

Cheers,

Bob

[echoblue]

Even if the virus is real, the text accompanying the alert has the common characteristics of a hoax... One of those is the exaggeration of the destructiveness of the alleged virus. :)

EDIT: Some info about the Storm Worm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_Worm) (the one the alert is about, or a variant of).

[winwintoo]

If you follow the link in the original message in this thread, it takes you to a Snopes page that talks about a real virus, if you read the whole page at Snopes, it goes on to mention a previously circulating hoax email that is similar to this one.

Here again is the link to the real threat:

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp

and here is the link to the page that talks about the hoax:

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/virtualcard.asp

As others have mentioned, don't click on links in emails.

Or get a Mac.

Margaret

[graficalicus]

almost verbatim, this goes back more than 6 years:

http://virusbusters.itcs.umich.edu//hoaxes/virtual.html

[winwintoo]

As I mentioned but would like to clarify, according to Snopes, there are two postcard things making the rounds.


One is a hoax, one is real.

See the links I posted above.

Margaret

[Wendy]

Whats a Virus :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Wendy

[msbrad]

Thanks Rus- I appreciate it a whole bunch, shall send out.
m

[Diana]

Whats a Virus :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Wendy

All right, Wendy, quit picking on us!:eek:

Diana

[Cmcburnett]

Thanks Russ. We were alerted at work last week about the virus. I don't understand why the people who think of the ways to destroy other folks belongings don't put their skills to better use, like making an honest living:confused:.

[kimi_boo]

I have been getting those for weeks. My virus software told me it was a virus and would not let me open it. :)

[Cmcburnett]

Kimi, that's good news. Glad it was blocked from your computer.

[Wendy]

Sorry Diana :o

This has been going around for quite some time and I have had several of them ... I think the give away has to be that it doesn't say who sent the card

Wendy

[Wags374]

I've been getting those card notices from all sorts and also the emails with the pdf attachements. I always delete them, figured if I don't recognize the name I'm not opening them. And if a client has someone else send something for them (happens from time to time) then by george they should alert me first as to who I should be expecting mail from.