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Posts Tagged ‘computer virus’

New Virus Amongst Us

January 10th, 2010 |

Author: Kelly Ifrah

: Image via Wikipedia

Further to my spam post a few days ago I thought this was relevant.

I received a message, from someone that I subscribe to, about a new virus so I checked it for myself and thought you’d like to see the results.

This is the message I got …

“HUGE VIRUS COMING! PLEASE READ & FORWARD!”

Hi All,

I checked with Norton Anti-Virus, and they are gearing up for this virus!

I checked Snopes, and it is for real. Get this E-mail message sent around to all your contacts ASAP.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS!

You should be alert during the next few days.

Do not open any message with an attachment entitled ‘POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK,’ regardless of who sent it to you. It is a virus which opens A POSTCARD IMAGE, which ‘burns’ the whole hard disc C drive of your computer.

This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address on his/her contact list. That is the reason why you need to send this e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it!

If you receive a mail called’ POSTCARD,’ even if it is sent to you by a friend, do not open it! Shut down your computer immediately. This is the worst virus announced by CNN.

It has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.

After a little digging I found the following …

a squidoo lens related to it offering virus software via clickbank, which is an affiliate program for those new to internet marketing. (This was my favourite because it shows the initiative of an affiliate marketer cashing in on something that they know people will search for after getting an e-mail. Think outside the box guys.)

about.com said … The Postcard from Hallmark hoax includes a link to a Snopes article which is worded in such a way that it appears the hoax warning is legitimate. It isn’t. While greeting card scams do exist, they don’t bear any resemblance to what’s outlined in the hoax. Following is one example of the Postcard from Hallmark virus hoax. Then had the same message as above following.

about.com also said on another page … False email alert warns of ‘the worst virus ever’ circulating in the form of an attachment labeled ‘POSTCARD’ or ‘POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK.’

Description: Email hoax
Circulating since: Feb. 2008 (this version)
Status: False, although real e-card viruses resembling this do exist

IMPORTANT NOTE

Some versions of this hoax claim the information was “verified” on Snopes.com. This is NOT true. What has been verified on Snopes.com is a different e-card virus threat with a similar name.

DO beware of phony “Hallmark” (or other) e-card notices — they may carry a real virus.

You can read the whole story on snopes.com, but the gist of it is that … Although the Postcard virus is real, it isn’t a “BIG VIRUS COMING” (it’s already been around in multiple forms for a long time now), it will not “burn the whole hard disc” of your computer, CNN didn’t classify it as the “worst virus” ever, and it doesn’t arrive in messages bearing a subject line of ‘Invitation.’

So there you have it, like with my previous post, the spammers/virs senders/hackers/phishers are getting cleverer, we just need to think before opening an e-mail or clicking a link that we are not sure came from where it says it comes from.