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Virus (fwd) - This is a Hoax (fwd)



Subject: Re: Virus (fwd) - This is a Hoax (fwd)

	DEAR ALL,

	MY SINCEREST APOLOGY! PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING and EXCUSE ME for 
	inconvenient. I am really sorry.


	YOURS, NiNi
	======================================================================
 ......
Many thanks for your concern - but I'm afraid that you have been the victim of a
hoax - I fell for it the first time too.

Below is an article that I downloaded, and that I believe (also having talked to
computer chums too).

Regards

Guy

     -------------------------------------------------------------
     
The Good Times email virus is a hoax! 
      If anyone repeats the hoax, please show them the FAQ. 




            G o o d   T i m e s   V i r u s  H o a x 
                          ------------
       F r e q u e n t l y   A s k e d   Q u e s t i o n s  


                          by Les Jones 
                         macfaq@xxxxxxx
                       lesjones@xxxxxxxx

                        Febraury 6, 1996


     This information may be freely reproduced in any medium, 
            as long as the information is unmodified.


February 6, 1995 Update
-----------------------

The Good Times virus hoax keeps on going. I receive almost daily
reports of hoax activity. I'm reposting the FAQ to relevant
newsgroups, and I've set up my own web pages:

http://www.usit.net/public/lesjones/goodtimes.html 
http://www.usit.net/public/lesjones/gtminifaq.html 
http://users.aol.com/macfaq/goodtimes.html
http://users.aol.com/macfaq/gtminifaq.html

The FAQ has been updated with current URLs and a new section
discussing the Word macro virus.

A call to educators and translators
-----------------------------------

If you teach classes or write books about the Internet, I encourage to
educate people about Good Times. The Good Times myth is not going away
anytime soon, so we should start including it in Internet curriculum
now. The FAQ is free for redistribution in any medium, so feel free to
integrate it into any class materials or published works.

Good Times has spread to many countries, and has been translated into
many languages. If you are bilingual, you can help debunk Good Times
by translating the FAQ into another language. If you do translate the
FAQ, please let me know the URL so I can include it in the FAQ.

Is the Good Times email virus a hoax?
-------------------------------------

Yes. It was a hoax in November of 1994, and it's still a hoax in
February of 1996.

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 November of 1994, no copy of the alleged virus
has ever been found, nor has there been a single verified case of a
viral attack.

Why should I believe the FAQ instead of the hoax?
-------------------------------------------------

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.

I'm new to the Internet. 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 with "Good Times" in the subject line will
erase your hard drive, or even destroy your computer's processor.
Needless to say, it's a hoax, but a lot of people believed 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 of 1994. It sprang up
again in March of 1995. In mid-April, a new version of the hoax that
mentioned a FCC report began circulating. Worried that Good Times
would never go away, I decided to write the FAQ. These worries proved
valid when the hoax began popping up again in October of 1995.

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 several English-speaking and
non-English-speaking countries. One reader sent me an English
transcription of a radio broadcast in Malta.

Adam J Kightley (adamjk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) said, "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 reportedly fallen for the hoax include
AT&T, CitiBank, NBC, Hughes Aircraft, Microsoft, Texas Instruments,
and dozens or hundreds of others. There have been outbreaks at
numerous colleges.

The U.S. government has not been immune. Some of the government
agencies that have reportedly fallen victim to the hoax include the
Department of Defense, the FCC, NASA, the USDA, U.S. Census Bureau,
and various national labs. I've confirmed outbreaks at the Department
of Health and Human Services, though they had the good sense to
question the hoax, and ask for more information on Usenet, before
passing the hoax along to their employees.

The virus hoax has occasionally escaped into the popular media.
ez018982@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx reports that on April 4, 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. Other radio stations,
including Australia's ABC radio, have also spread the hoax.

There are scattered reports of the virus spreading via Faxnet, that
low-tech network of secretaries and bored knowledge workers that
traffics in cartoons and dumb blonde jokes.

What was the CIAC bulletin?
---------------------------

On December 6, 1994, the U.S. Department of Energy's CIAC (Computer
Incident Advisory Capability) issued a bulletin declaring the Good
Times virus a hoax and an urban legend. The bulletin was widely quoted
as an antidote to the hoax. The original document can be found at the
address in Online References at the end of the FAQ. Note that the
document went through several minor revisions, with 94-04c of December
8 being the most recent. 

Like all quoted material in the FAQ, it includes the original spelling
and punctuation. Because some of the lines in the CIAC report are
rather long, they will appear broken. 


----Begin quoted material----
THE "Good Times" VIRUS IS AN URBAN LEGEND

In the early part of December, CIAC started to receive information
requests about a supposed "virus" which could be contracted via
America OnLine, simply by reading a message.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 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.   |

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

THIS IS A HOAX.  Upon investigation, CIAC has determined that this
message originated from both a user of America Online and a student at
a university at approximately the same time, and it was meant to be a
hoax.

CIAC has also seen other variations of this hoax, the main one is that
any electronic mail message with the subject line of "xxx-1" will
infect your computer.

This rumor has been spreading very widely.  This spread is due mainly
to the fact that many people have seen a message with "Good Times" in
the header. They delete the message without reading it, thus believing
that they have saved themselves from being attacked. These first-hand
reports give a false sense of credibility to the alert message.

There has been one confirmation of a person who received a message
with "xxx-1" in the header, but an empty message body.  Then, (in a
panic, because he had heard the alert), he checked his PC for viruses
(the first time he checked his machine in months) and found a
pre-existing virus on his machine. He incorrectly came to the
conclusion that the E-mail message gave him the virus (this particular
virus could NOT POSSIBLY have spread via an E-mail message).  This
person then spread his alert.