Dear All,
All of us have been bombarded over the years with variations on the Good Times virux hoax, fake stories about email viruses that will mess up our computers if we download a certain message. The "Good Times" virus doesn't exist and never has. However, today's (Wednesday, July 29, 1998) New York Times reports a virus which runs with the Microsoft and Netscape mail programs. There is a patch available to help prevent the problem.
The virus only runs with those programs, but it can come as an attachment and run without any action on the part of the user. I have copied part of the story below. For the entire story, including websites to download the patch, please see the New York Time's site at http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/07/biztech/articles/29email-flaw.html You will have to register; however, registration is free.
Bryan M. Carson
Reference and Computer Services Librarian
Hamline University Law Library
1536 Hewitt Avenue
St Paul, Minnesota 55104-1284
Phone: 651-523-2937
Fax: 651-523-2435 / 2236
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"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves,
or we know where we can find information upon it."
--Samuel Johnson
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All opinions expressed are my own and not my employer's.
All original content (c) 1998 Bryan M. Carson. All rights
reserved.
July 29, 1998
Security Flaw Discovered in E-Mail
Programs
By JOHN MARKOFF
SAN FRANCISCO -- A serious security flaw has been discovered in popular e-mail programs published by Microsoft Corp. and
Netscape Communications Corp. that would permit a malicious person
to send a message containing a virus that could crash a computer,
destroy or even steal data.
So far, security tests have shown that the flaw exists in three of the four
most popular e-mail programs, used by perhaps tens of millions of
people around the world: Microsoft's Outlook Express and Outlook 98
and Netscape's Web browser, Navigator, which is part of its
Communicator suite of Internet programs.
While Microsoft is already providing fixes, the flaw is particularly
worrisome in the Microsoft Outlook 98 program, which combines e-mail
with a schedular, contact list, notes and other tasks, because this
software allows an illicit program attached to a piece of e-mail to execute
without any activity on the part of the person using the target computer.
Most computer viruses can only infect a machine when the user opens an
infected file or attempts to run an infected program.
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