SCN: Another VBS virus, & possible mail congestion.

[J. Johnson]

There is an advisory from CERT (the official and authentic source of such
information) about another VBS (Visual Basic Script) e-mail virus making
the rounds, this one supposedly containing images of athelete Anna
Kournikova.  (Summary below.  For more details, go to wwww.cert.org.)

PLEASE NOTE:  this, as all VBS e-mail viruses, severely affects only those
who read their mail with Microsoft applications such as "Outlook Express". 
It does not affect any SCN user who reads their mail on SCN, or use mail
readers other than Outlook.  (Or even Outlook users who have turned-off
the default--and idiotic!--automatic execution of e-mail programs.) (See
below for a tip.)

However, we may all be affected to some degree, as there are reports that
heavy volumes of e-mail at some locations is causing network congestion.
Also, SCN users may be getting copies from affected users--don't worry
about them.  Read them, but please don't send them to susceptible users.

A tip for anyone using MS software to receive mail from another ISP:  if
you get suspicious e-mail, and don't know if it would be safe to open it
on your system:  forward it to your SCN account and read it here.  

=== JJ =============================================================

> CERT Advisory CA-2001-03 VBS/OnTheFly (Anna Kournikova) Malicious Code
> 
> 
> Systems Affected
> 
>    Users of Microsoft Outlook who have not applied previously available
>    security updates.
> 
> Overview
> 
>    The "VBS/OnTheFly" malicious code is a VBScript program that spreads
>    via email. As of 7:00 pm EST(GMT-5) Feb 12, 2001, the CERT
>    Coordination Center had received reports from more than 100 individual
>    sites. Several of these sites have reported suffering network
>    degradation as a result of mail traffic generated by the
>    "VBS/OnTheFly" malicious code.
> 

Go to CERT's web page at www.cert.org for the rest of the details.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * *  From the Listowner  * * * * * * * * * * * *
.	To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to:
majordomo at scn.org		In the body of the message, type:
unsubscribe scn
==== Messages posted on this list are also available on the web at: ====
* * * * * * *     http://www.scn.org/volunteers/scn-l/     * * * * * * *