Six people sent me the Sircam virus today

July 27, 2001

I spent several hours today confirming that my home computer was not infected

with the sircam virus. Yesterday I was sent the virus without knowing what it

was because I deleted it without opening it. Then today, six more people (most

of whom I recognize from my email directory) sent me the same virus. It would

have been tempting to open it, but I deleted it safely. This virus will

automatically go out to everyone in your directory. I store hundreds of email

addresses in my directory for different groups of parents and politicians ECT...

so I was mortified at the thought of helping spread the virus to so many family,

friends, acquaintances and strangers.

Although you will not be getting it from me, I thought I would write you all

since it is obviously running rampant.

DO NOT OPEN ANY ATTACHMENTS EVER unless you are expecting a file attachment,

know what it is before opening it, and can verify the sender by more than their

sending address (a personal note in the text that confirms the sender was not

automatic).

This virus specifically says " Hi how are you, I sent this in order to have your

advice. See you later, thanks. " The message varies slightly and can translate

automatically into Spanish. The attachment comes randomly from the senders " My

Documents folder " so it looks safe and tempting to read. This could be very

damaging if the random file sent happens to include sensitive/private/valuable

material. It has several triggers and could potentially delete your entire hard

drive. More information can be found at the following web sites, and probably

by calling your Internet server for assistance.

s

Make sure you have updated your Norton Antivirus since July 25th and that your

definitions include the w32sircam virus and run a scan so you are protected.

in Maine

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