Re: **VIRUS**ALERT**ON**NET***

Roshanak N. Cyrus (rnc4236@is.nyu.edu) wrote: : The following item was sent to me today by friends in another : department; whether you use the 'Net here or at home, this is something : to be very aware of: -------------------------------------------------------------------- Good Times Virus Hoax FAQ by Les Jones macfaq@aol.com lesjones@usit.net April 24, 1995 This document can be freely reproduced in any medium, as long as it is distributed unmodified and in its entirety. ------------------------------------- Is the Good Times email virus a hoax? ------------------------------------- Yes. It's a hoax. America Online, government computer security agencies, and makers of anti-virus software have declared Good Times a hoax. See Online References at the end of the FAQ. Since the hoax began in December of 1994, no copy of the alleged virus was ever found, nor have there been verified first hand reports of the virus. ------------------------- Why should I believe you? ------------------------- Unlike the warnings that have been passed around, the FAQ is signed and dated. I've included my email address, and the email addresses of contributors, for verification. I've also provided online references at the end of the FAQ so that you can confirm this information for yourself. ---------------------------------- What is the Good Times virus hoax? ---------------------------------- The story is that a virus called Good Times is being carried by email. Just reading a message from someone named Good Times, or reading a message with Good Times in the subject line, will erase your hard drive. Needless to say, it's a hoax, but a lot of people believe it. The original message ended with instructions to "Forward this to all your friends," and many people did just that. Warnings about Good Times have been widely distributed on mailing lists, Usenet newsgroups, and message boards. The original hoax started in early December, 1994. It sprang up again in March of 1995. In mid-April, people began distributing a previously obscure message, and added. Worried that Good Times would never go away, I decided to write the FAQ and a separate report that chronicles the hoax's history. ------------------------------- What is the effect of the hoax? ------------------------------- For those who already know it's a hoax, it's a nuisance to read the repeated warnings. For people who don't know any better, it causes needless concern and lost productivity. The virus hoax infects mailing lists, bulletin boards, and Usenet newsgroups. Worried system administrators needlessly worry their employees by posting dire warnings. The hoax is not limited to the United States. It has appeared in many English-speaking countries. As Adam J Kightley (adamjk@cogs.susx.ac.uk) put it, "The cases of 'infection' I came across all tended to result from the message getting into the hands of senior non-computing personnel. Those with the ability and authority to spread it widely, without the knowledge to spot its nonsensical content." Some of the companies that have fallen for the hoax include AT&T, CitiBank, NBC, Hughes Aircraft, Texas Instruments, and dozens or hundreds of others. Good Times has made its way around Washington, D.C. Some of the government agencies that have reportedly fallen victim to the hoax include the Department of Defense, the FCC, NASA, and numerous colleges. The virus hoax has occasionally escaped into the popular media. ez018982@betty.ucdavis.edu reports that on April 2, 1995, during the Tom Sullivan show on KFBK 1530 AM radio in Sacramento, California, a police officer warned listeners not to read email labeled "Good Times", and to report the sender to the police. I've called Business Media Services (916-453-8802) and ordered a tape of the show. .WAV at 11:00. --------------------------------------------------- What did the original warning (Happy Chanukah) say? --------------------------------------------------- This is the canonical original message as I received it, and as it was quoted in the CIAC report. Like all quoted material in the FAQ, it includes the original punctuation: ----Begin quoted material---- Here is some important information. Beware of a file called Goodtimes. Happy Chanukah everyone, and be careful out there.There is a virus on America Online being sent by E-Mail. If you get anything called "Good Times", DON'T read it or download it. It is a virus that will erase your hard drive. Forward this to all your friends. It may help them a lot. ----End quoted material---- ------------------------------------------------------ What's the other commonly-distributed warning (ASCII)? ------------------------------------------------------ The "happy Chanukah" greeting in the original message dates it, so more recent hoax eruptions have used a different message. The one below can be identified because it claims that simply loading Good Times into the computer's ASCII buffer can activate the virus, so I call it ASCII. Karyn Pichnarczyk remembers the ASCII message from the original hoax in December of 1994, though I never saw it. Mikko Hypponen (Mikko.Hypponen@datafellows.fi) sent me a copy of this warning that dates back to December 2, 1994. It's now the basis for the most common message warnings. ----Begin quoted material---- Thought you might like to know... Apparently , a new computer virus has been engineered by a user of America Online that is unparalleled in its destructive capability. Other, more well-known viruses such as Stoned, Airwolf, and Michaelangelo pale in comparison to the prospects of this newest creation by a warped mentality. What makes this virus so terrifying is the fact that no program needs to be exchanged for a new computer to be infected. It can be spread through the existing e-mail systems of the InterNet. Luckily, there is one sure means of detecting what is now known as the "Good Times" virus. It always travels to new computers the same way - in a text e-mail message with the subject line reading simply "Good Times". Avoiding infection is easy once the file has been received - not reading it. The act of loading the file into the mail server's ASCII buffer causes the "Good Times" mainline program to initialize and execute. The program is highly intelligent - it will send copies of itself to everyone whose e-mail address is contained in a received-mail file or a sent-mail file, if it can find one. It will then proceed to trash the computer it is running on. The bottom line here is - if you receive a file with the subject line "Good TImes", delete it immediately! Do not read it! Rest assured that whoever's name was on the "From:" line was surely struck by the virus. Warn your friends and local system users of this newest threat to the InterNet! It could save them a lot of time and money. ----End quoted material--- --------------------------------------------