Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] eGroups/ worms/ virus

Hi,

I think both answers are right in a way but don't quite explain the problem!
The point is that Kakworm and its cousins tend to attach to your signature
file (I know some people don't use a specific signature file but the common
mail programs such as Netscape, Outlook Express, Eudora etc. have the easy
facility to attach a 'standard' signature which is a separate file which is
'attached' just like any other attachment except that the computer
recognises it as a signature and integrates it with the message. Once this
file becomes corrupted with a hidden 'virus' or 'worm' it is automatically
attached to every email which is sent and thus infects the recipient's
computer without his knowledge. Because it looks just like any other
'signature file', it is not (and perhaps cannot be) blocked by an ISP or
email group, and thus passes through unnoticed. You cannot stop the thing
arriving on your computer and so it is up to you to ensure that your machine
will not allow it to activate (all the current batch are scripts and you can
prohibit your computer from running any scripts automatically - hey! I just
thought, perhaps this would be a basis for distributing working copies of
EMC!!! ;o} ). If you don't trap the worm quickly, it will attach to your
signature file and send itself out again with every email. Consequently, if
you find you have the 'virus', it is important that one of the cleaning
steps is to delete your present signature file and make a new one. The
alternative, of course, is not to have an automatically attached signature
and to type it in separately each time.

Best wishes,

Ian.

----
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield UK

----- Original Message -----
From: James Owens <wotisname@...>
To: <CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@egroups.com>
Sent: 10 August 2000 08:17
Subject: Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] eGroups/ worms/ virus


> Hi Bill,
>
> This is not true, I know an ex-hacker that can write a worm that arrives
> with the mail but is invisible, not an attachment. This is the difference
> between a virus and a worm. It is also only detectable after it has
invaded
> your system, luckily there is not many people around with this level of
> expertise. Microsoft can interrogate your computer via a back door that is
> programmed into Windows, told you he wants to rule the world.