Warning! Computer Hoaxes Snag Internet Users
January 7, 1998 - 0:0
HAMBURG Bad jokes and computer pranks are everywhere on the Internet these days. Once you unpack your new PC, go on-line, and get your first letters by e-mail, don't be surprised if you see a warning: If you are reading this, your hard drive is being erased. But don't panic: it's just another computer hoax the cyberspace equivalent of a very bad joke.
Indeed, on the Internet, hoax has become a commonplace word. Floating around in cyberspace today are tons of erroneous warnings about destructive computer programs, which purportedly do everything from erasing all the data on your hard drive to spying on your data to damaging the hardware in your PC. Newcomers are especially exposed and often fall for the hoaxes that are sent around the world like a chain letter via electronic mail.
Most hoaxes follow a similar pattern, according to the CIAC, the computer safety department of the American Energy Department. They come in the form of electronic mail and often have a subject line, or lead, which is supposed to impart a measure of trustworthiness and respectability. Typically, the body of the message is an apparent explanation about the dangers regarding the Internet, which is coupled with the request to inform all friends and colleagues about this information.
Most Internet pranksters operate according to this scheme, whether they are called Penpal Greetings, Irina, Make Money Fast, Deeyenda, Join the Crew, or <169>PKZ300.<170> A true classic of this type of joke is an e-mail warning about an alleged virus named Good Times. This bogus e-mail alarm has been moving through the Net since 1994 and has thus achieved an almost legendary status.
It begins with a false warning by an American institution about Good Times, which purportedly is spread through an e-mail message of the same title. Good Times, once opened, is reported to erase a user's hard drive and will cause the processor to run an incredibly complex, infinite loop, according to the Computer Safety Department of the American Energy Department. Hendrik Fulda, spokesperson for the Chaos Computer Clubs in Hamburg, Germany, warns people not to be too gullible when hanging out in cyberspace.
Anyone who thinks about it for any time at all has to come to the conclusion that this is nonsense, says Fulda. Moreover, such e-mail warnings often contain generalizations like everybody who opens the message would be facing disastrous consequences and that all computers would be destroyed even when this is totally impossible. No virus is able to know all e-mail programs and computer configurations to the extent that it can harm all computers, says Fulda. Every warning on the Internet should at first be considered a hoax or a bad joke, says Christoph Fischer, a computer security expert from the Virus Test Center at the University of Karlsruhe (Germany).
These hoaxes are nevertheless often more dangerous than real viruses if you consider the working time that is lost because of them. Even experts fall for them, he says. The most recent example of a hoax was the attack on the popular search engine Yahoo on the Internet. Every computer from which Yahoo was called upon would be infected with a logical bomb which would show its destructive force on Christmas Eve in all networks of the world, according to the message that was spread shortly before Christmas. The disaster could only be stopped, it said, when Kevin Mitnick, one of the most well-known computer hackers of the United States, was released from prison.
These hoaxes play on the incomplete knowledge or insecurities of some computer users. The fact that today's PCs often call up certain programs automatically in order to automate processes or procedures for the user can also make it more difficult for people to know what's going on with their PCs. Automation in such cases also has its drawbacks, says Fischer. Generally, one should not allow programs to open without an explicit confirmation by the user.
Fischer stresses that simple text-based e-mail can cause no harm to computers, so any warnings suggesting that damage will result by reading an e-mail message should be taken as bad jokes. But any e-mail with data attached to it is potentially more dangerous. All data should be tested for viruses before being opened, says Fischer. (DPA)
Indeed, on the Internet, hoax has become a commonplace word. Floating around in cyberspace today are tons of erroneous warnings about destructive computer programs, which purportedly do everything from erasing all the data on your hard drive to spying on your data to damaging the hardware in your PC. Newcomers are especially exposed and often fall for the hoaxes that are sent around the world like a chain letter via electronic mail.
Most hoaxes follow a similar pattern, according to the CIAC, the computer safety department of the American Energy Department. They come in the form of electronic mail and often have a subject line, or lead, which is supposed to impart a measure of trustworthiness and respectability. Typically, the body of the message is an apparent explanation about the dangers regarding the Internet, which is coupled with the request to inform all friends and colleagues about this information.
Most Internet pranksters operate according to this scheme, whether they are called Penpal Greetings, Irina, Make Money Fast, Deeyenda, Join the Crew, or <169>PKZ300.<170> A true classic of this type of joke is an e-mail warning about an alleged virus named Good Times. This bogus e-mail alarm has been moving through the Net since 1994 and has thus achieved an almost legendary status.
It begins with a false warning by an American institution about Good Times, which purportedly is spread through an e-mail message of the same title. Good Times, once opened, is reported to erase a user's hard drive and will cause the processor to run an incredibly complex, infinite loop, according to the Computer Safety Department of the American Energy Department. Hendrik Fulda, spokesperson for the Chaos Computer Clubs in Hamburg, Germany, warns people not to be too gullible when hanging out in cyberspace.
Anyone who thinks about it for any time at all has to come to the conclusion that this is nonsense, says Fulda. Moreover, such e-mail warnings often contain generalizations like everybody who opens the message would be facing disastrous consequences and that all computers would be destroyed even when this is totally impossible. No virus is able to know all e-mail programs and computer configurations to the extent that it can harm all computers, says Fulda. Every warning on the Internet should at first be considered a hoax or a bad joke, says Christoph Fischer, a computer security expert from the Virus Test Center at the University of Karlsruhe (Germany).
These hoaxes are nevertheless often more dangerous than real viruses if you consider the working time that is lost because of them. Even experts fall for them, he says. The most recent example of a hoax was the attack on the popular search engine Yahoo on the Internet. Every computer from which Yahoo was called upon would be infected with a logical bomb which would show its destructive force on Christmas Eve in all networks of the world, according to the message that was spread shortly before Christmas. The disaster could only be stopped, it said, when Kevin Mitnick, one of the most well-known computer hackers of the United States, was released from prison.
These hoaxes play on the incomplete knowledge or insecurities of some computer users. The fact that today's PCs often call up certain programs automatically in order to automate processes or procedures for the user can also make it more difficult for people to know what's going on with their PCs. Automation in such cases also has its drawbacks, says Fischer. Generally, one should not allow programs to open without an explicit confirmation by the user.
Fischer stresses that simple text-based e-mail can cause no harm to computers, so any warnings suggesting that damage will result by reading an e-mail message should be taken as bad jokes. But any e-mail with data attached to it is potentially more dangerous. All data should be tested for viruses before being opened, says Fischer. (DPA)