Cure for E virus (fwd)

[Jeremy A Schiffer <schiffer...>]

Jewish Music Folks:

It doesn't work. Not reliably, anyway. Most of the worms have no problem
going past bad addresses. I know, one of our addresses has been used
millions of time by klez to send virus-laden messages, and before it was
changed, he was receiving thousands of "undeliverable" messages a day from
messages sent to bad addresses.

The best solution is to run anti-virus software, such as Norton
Anti-Virus, and keep your virus definitions up to date. By up to date, I
mean to check for updates at least twice a week, because they're often
updated that frequently.

Also, always make sure your security patches for Windows are up to date,
at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com. This should be run at least once a
week, unless you have automatic notification of updates.

-Jeremy Schiffer

----------------------------------------------------------------
Jeremy A. Schiffer
AcIS Security Administrator
Columbia University
212-854-2903
AcIS Nextel *75

Please direct all computer security related queries to
security (at) columbia(dot)edu or the AcIS/AIS Help Desk at 212-854-1919.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 15:18:55 EDT
From: Klezcorner (at) aol(dot)com
Reply-To: jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Subject: Cure for E virus

This was sent to me by a friend

If this really works, then it will solve the Klez Virus problem
Simon
Hatikvah Music

Subject: HOW TO PROTECT YOUR ADDRESS BOOK!

I learned a computer trick today that's really
ingenious in it 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 AAAAAAA. In the window
below where it prompts you to enter the new email
address, type in WormAlert (at) somewhere(dot)com . Then
complete everything by clicking add, enter, ok, etc.

Now, here's what you've done and why it works: The
"name" AAAAAAA 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 AAAAAAA,
it will be undeliverable because of the phony email
address you entered (WormAlert (at) somewhere(dot)com). 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 spelling you that an email addressed
to WormAlert (at) somewhere(dot)com 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!
Pretty slick huh?

If everybody you know does this then you needn't ever
worry about opening mail from friends.

          Pass this on to all your friends.


---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+