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Subject: URGENT VIRUS ALERT -- not a hoax, believe me!!

Author: Frederic Friedel

Date: 14:35:42 02/12/01


URGENT VIRUS ALERT -- not a hoax, believe me!!

There is a new, potentially very wide-spread virus on the rampage. A colleague
in England has already been hit, and you will hear all about it tomorrow in the
news. Here’s a quick description to help you avoid infection:

* The virus or worm arrives as an e-mail with the subject: "Here you have, :o)"

* The body of the message then contains the following brief message: "Hi: Check
This!"

* The virus itself is in an attachment called "AnnaKournikova.jpg.vbs". This
lures people into opening or double-clicking to see the picture. This is
especially the case if the attachment's second extension is hidden, which is
often the default setting (it then appears as AnnaKournikova.jpg). People think
it is a JPEG picture of the young Russian tennis star.

* Upon execution of the Visual Basic Script, which is what the file actually
contains, the worm copies itself to the Windows directory, and then sends the
file as an attachment to every address listed in an infected user's Microsoft
Outlook address book.

* Additionally, it will attempt to launch a browser directed to a particular Web
site on January 26 of every year.

Other effects may be present but I do not yet know about them.

So watch out, don’t open any Kournikova attachments, don’t open any VBS
attachments (ever, anyway), keep checking the news for the latest on the
development of the infection. It could be as big as the I-Love-You virus, which
caused literally billions of dollars in damages.



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