PENPAL GREETINGS!

PENPAL GREETINGS!

The PENPAL GREETINGS! hoax shown below appears to be an attempt to kill an e-mail chain letter. This chain letter is a hoax because reading an e-mail message does not execute a virus nor does it execute any attachments; therefore the Trojan horse must be self starting. Aside from the fact that a program cannot start itself, the Trojan horse would have to know about every different kind of e-mail program to be able to forward copies of itself to other people. Notice the three parts of a chain letter, which are easy to identify in this example.

The Hook

FYI!
Subject: Virus Alert
Importance: High
If anyone receives mail entitled: PENPAL GREETINGS! please delete it WITHOUT
reading it. Below is a little explanation of the message, and what it would
do to your PC if you were to read the message. If you have any questions or
concerns please contact SAF-IA Info Office on 697-5059.

The Threat

This is a warning for all internet users - there is a dangerous virus
propogating across the internet through an e-mail message entitled "PENPAL
GREETINGS!".
DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY MESSAGE ENTITLED "PENPAL GREETINGS!"
This message appears to be a friendly letter asking you if you are
interested in a penpal, but by the time you read this letter, it is too late.
The "trojan horse" virus will have already infected the boot sector of your hard
drive, destroying all of the data present. It is a self-replicating virus,
and once the message is read, it will AUTOMATICALLY forward itself to anyone
who's e-mail address is present in YOUR mailbox!
This virus will DESTROY your hard drive, and holds the potential to DESTROY
the hard drive of anyone whose mail is in your inbox, and who's mail is in
their inbox, and so on. If this virus remains unchecked, it has the potential
to do a great deal of DAMAGE to computer networks worldwide!!!!
Please, delete the message entitled "PENPAL GREETINGS!" as soon as you see it!

The Request

And pass this message along to all of your friends and relatives, and the
other readers of the newsgroups and mailing lists which you are on, so that
they are not hurt by this dangerous virus!!!!

Canulars Virus et Farces

Ces virus sont actifs, ne jouez pas avec !!

Du coté des canulars et autres supercheries

Vignette Assurance Auto signée
Lauréat de l'année

Du coté virus informatiques

Qui l'eu cru (2002)
Email Loufoque
Chaîne de l'Ami
Alerte au Virus, con!
Virus par Portable interposé
Avec amour, tout est possible
Qui lu cru
Vos GSM sont traqués
Le Mantra du Dalaï Lama
California IBM
Wobbler
Amitié
PENPAL GREETINGS!
Make Money Fast Warning
America Online Upgrade Warning
Bud Frogs Screen Saver
A Little Girl Dying
Jessica Mydek
Everything You Never Wanted
Anthony Parkin
Tickle Me Elmo
Kidney Harvest
PBS and NPR - Petition
Hawaiian Good Luck Totem
Tweety Bird Wish
Bad Time 99
Ministère des finances
En conclusion : Spam ou virus Merci !

Pour d'autres informations sur ces virus, vous pouvez utiliser un moteur de recherche avec un nom de virus dans votre requête. Ainsi une recherche avec Antony Parkin (Virus) et Make a Wish Foundations (Fondation) ou Mayo clinic (Etablissement) vous permet de voir tous les sites qui traitent également de ces sujets.