Fritz Allison

slm 521 sp03

4/25/03

viruses

Form Letter:

To whom it may concern,

I appreciate the fact that you cared to send me a warning about a possible virus. Unfortunately, this virus warning is a hoax. Some users find it amusing to create hoaxes trying to get others to forward warnings about viruses that do not exist. The following are some sites where you can go to check out if a warning may indeed be a hoax.

1. Hoaxbusters: This site will show many viruses threats that are indeed hoaxes.

2. Symantec Anti-virus Research Center: This site will show many viruses that are real and how high the threat level is of being infected by it.

3. McAffe Security: This site is similar to the previous one, it shows some viruses that are real and also includes some general information about viruses.

Again, thank you for your concern, the threat of a virus is real, unfortunately we also have to deal with hoaxes as well. Hopefully, these resources will help you to determine if a threat is real or not.

Tip Sheet:

Viruses are programs that, when downloaded can be destructive from computer to computer or from disk to disk. The only way to be infected by a virus is if you download and execute the infected file. This makes it important that you follow steps in order to safeguard against viruses. The following is a list of tips from McAffee that are good ideas to practice to help guard against being infected by a virus.

Virus Detection and Prevention Tips

1. Do not open any files attached to an email from an unknown, suspicious or untrustworthy source.

2. Do not open any files attached to an email unless you know what it is, even if it appears to come from a dear friend or someone you know. Some viruses can replicate themselves and spread through email. Better be safe than sorry and confirm that they really sent it.

3. Do not open any files attached to an email if the subject line is questionable or unexpected. If the need to do so is there always save the file to your hard drive before doing so.

4. Delete chain emails and junk email. Do not forward or reply to any to them. These types of email are considered spam, which is unsolicited, intrusive mail that clogs up the network.

5. Do not download any files from strangers.

6. Exercise caution when downloading files from the Internet. Ensure that the source is a legitimate and reputable one. Verify that an anti-virus program checks the files on the download site. If you're uncertain, don't download the file at all or download the file to a floppy and test it with your own anti-virus software.

7. Update your anti-virus software regularly. Over 500 viruses are discovered each month, so you'll want to be protected. These updates should be at the least the products virus signature files. You may also need to update the product's scanning engine as well.

8. Back up your files on a regular basis. If a virus destroys your files, at least you can replace them with your back-up copy. You should store your backup copy in a separate location from your work files, one that is preferably not on your computer.

9. When in doubt, always err on the side of caution and do not open, download, or execute any files or email attachments. Not executing is the more important of these caveats. Check with your product vendors for updates which include those for your operating system web browser, and email. One example is the security site section of Microsoft located at http://www.microsoft.com/security.

http://dispatch.mcafee.com/virus_tips.asp