Virus alert. On this list. Read

[JulesMrshn@aol.co]

In a message dated 5/3/99 11:58:53 PM Central Daylight Time,
craigd@mediaone.net writes:

>


Well, first I must say you are an idiot. Happy99.exe is a program that
effects your e-mail. It sends it automatically and you have no record of who
you sent it to on your mailer. You can find it listed somewhere else on the
computer though. Next time before you mouth off, get informed!

CNet.com has info on it for all of you who want to be informed and not a
mouth off.

[Ben]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

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Hey, dude. He could have put up the worm accidentally. Give the guy =
a break.=20

=
Ben A.


Compaq Technical Division =
benjamin.banfield-alexander@compaq.com
----- Original Message -----=20
From: Craig Dalrymple=20
To: Birthright Mailing List=20
Sent: Monday, May 03, 1999 11:53 PM
Subject: [BIRTHRIGHT] - VIRUS ALERT. ON THIS LIST. READ NOW


GeeMan,

aka GeeMan@linkline.com

Just posted a worm to the list. For those of you who don't know what a =
worm is, just understand
it's bad for your computer. He posted it as an attached file: =
Happy99.exe.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES are you to download this file and run it. If =
you do, you will regret
it. Trust me. If you have questions ask me.

GeeMan:

What kind of amateurish prank is this???? You think that because we =
are gamers we don't know
about the likes of that. SHame on you punk. You did a very bad thing =
and must now pay.

I suggest that everyone on the list concider what he posts to be =
suspect and run a virus scan
on it before you ever run/install anything from him.

Better yet, don't read his crap.

Craig Dalrymple
Who knows more than he acts upon, and knows that if you are going to =
do it, you should at least
use a different email account than your own... bye bye chipper. I know =
how to forward to your
admin :)

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    Hey, dude. He could have put up the worm =
accidentally.=20
Give the guy a break.
 
            =
   =20
            =
   =20
            =
   =20
            =
   =20
        Ben A.
 
 
            =
Compaq=20
Technical Division benjamin.banfield-=
alexander@compaq.com

----- Original Message -----
From:=20
Craig=20
Dalrymple
To: Birthright Mailing List
Sent: Monday, May 03, 1999 =
11:53 PM
Subject: [BIRTHRIGHT] - VIRUS =
ALERT. ON=20
THIS LIST. READ NOW

GeeMan,
 
aka GeeMan@linkline.com
 
Just posted a worm to the list. For those of you =
who don't=20
know what a worm is, just understand
it's bad for your computer. He posted it as an =
attached=20
file: Happy99.exe.
 
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES are you to download this =
file and run=20
it. If you do, you will regret
it. Trust me. If you have questions ask =
me.
 
GeeMan:
 
What kind of amateurish prank is this???? You =
think that=20
because we are gamers we don't know
about the likes of that. SHame on you punk. You =
did a very=20
bad thing and must now pay.
 
I suggest that everyone on the list concider what =
he posts=20
to be suspect and run a virus scan
on it before you ever run/install anything from=20
him.
 
Better yet, don't read his crap.
 
Craig Dalrymple
Who knows more than he acts upon, and knows that =
if you are=20
going to do it, you should at least
use a different email account than your own... bye =
bye=20
chipper. I know how to forward to your
admin :)

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[Mathieu Roy]

> What kind of amateurish prank is this???? You think that because we
are gamers we don't know> about the likes of that. SHame on you punk.
You did a very bad thing and must now pay.>> I suggest that everyone on
the list concider what he posts to be suspect and run a virus scan> on
it before you ever run/install anything from him.

If I'm not mistaken, Happy99 is a virus that propagates itself through
e-mail, as an attached file, using the e-mail adresses of outgoing
messages, without any intervention or knowledge from the infected user.
GeeMan would not be responsible for sending out this virus (beyond the
fact that he's infected, of course, and should quickly and immediately
run a virus cleanup before it gets any worse.)

It's best you consider any executable you receive in e-mail as suspect.
Especially if they come from mailing lists or people you don't know.

Mathieu

[Ben]

> If I'm not mistaken, Happy99 is a virus that propagates itself through
> e-mail, as an attached file, using the e-mail adresses of outgoing
> messages, without any intervention or knowledge from the infected user.
> GeeMan would not be responsible for sending out this virus (beyond the
> fact that he's infected, of course, and should quickly and immediately
> run a virus cleanup before it gets any worse.)
>
> It's best you consider any executable you receive in e-mail as suspect.
> Especially if they come from mailing lists or people you don't know.
>
> Mathieu

Yes. That's right. He probably didn't put it on the list on purpose.
Geeman--you probably opened this file at one point, and now it attaches
itself to your outgoing mail. If I remember correctly, this one shows some
fireworks or something. Sound familiar? Don't panic, though. You can get rid
of it.


Ben A.

Compaq Technical Division
benjamin.banfield-alexander@compaq.com

[Craig Dalrymple]

>If I'm not mistaken, Happy99 is a virus that propagates itself through
>e-mail, as an attached file, using the e-mail adresses of outgoing
>messages, without any intervention or knowledge from the infected user.
>GeeMan would not be responsible for sending out this virus (beyond the
>fact that he's infected, of course, and should quickly and immediately
>run a virus cleanup before it gets any worse.)
>
Ok, I already responded to Jules privately, but as two more have ponied
up to point this out I want to stop the "be nice" messages so we can
get on to the relavant issues of BR :)

First off: If I am shown to be wrong, I will apologise. To the list and
GeeMan both.

Secondly, you are all right. It's easy to send this one out without knowing
it. Problem is, every description of Melissa and her children (such as
happy99 here)
point out that the subject line is going to say something like "Important
message from.."
or "Here's the file you requested..."

GeeMan's did not. It said "Re: [BIRTHRIGHT] - Ravenloft"

Which implies one of two things:

1. GeeMan didn't mean to do it, but Happy99 has mutated to the point that
it
copies the subject from a letter and follows it out (such as his origional
post on
Ravenloft and any Vos area that might have been "lifted" into the Dark
Powers
realms). This is a bad thing. This means I was wrong to stop reading about
the Melissa family and focus on other things. It also means I was wrong with
my knee jerk response. This also calls into question the value of such a
strain.
If the goal is to get a person to open it, read it, and then become victim
of it,
the subject line needs to be generic and urgent. More than half of the
people
in my address book would stop just by the BR subject and ask me what it
was before downloading, thus reducing the effect of the virus, and
destroying
the author's intent.

or.

2. GeeMan took the virus and set it up to hit the list on purpose. This
could
easily be done and circumvents the subject line problem. In effect, he would
be "dropping" it back onto the net. In which case, my knee jerk response
would be about dead on.

If you have a website or link that can prove to me I am wrong, please
email it to me. I don't like making these kinds of mistakes. If you can't
I stand behind my origional post, which was intended to protect the
less aware members of the list. We can't all pay attention to everything
so I figured it was a good deed to warn others. Even if I went off a bit.

Further communication through email please friends,

Craig

craigd@mediaone.net

[WILLELA@aol.co]

Thanks for the warnings that happy.99 won't make you very happy.
(Congratulations to myself for, for once, reading the rest of my mail before
downloading.)
Question: can we get rid of it? or is it going to stay on our list,
waiting for someone else to download it?
Yours for deeper dungeons
David Argall

[JNeighb934@aol.co]

You know what pisses me off about all this? The fact that I tested my Virus
Scanner on the file and it didn't detect any virus! That makes me feel real
secure.

[Gwaeron@aol.co]

I snipped a fair bit off. I'd like to jump in here real quick and say that
its not his fault either. I was struck by the very same thing Happy99.exe
not 5 days ago. It didn't come in through any spam, or a letter with an
urgent topic. I still have yet to figure out exactly where it came from, but
it, or at least the one I had sent another letter attached with the file with
the same subject as the original letter. Granted, I don't really know all
that much about virus's, because I usually take extreme caution when it comes
to those. Ease off the poor fellow, unless you can actually prove he did do
it intentionally. If anyone else who actually knows anything about this stuff
would like to comment, go right ahead, I was just sharing my experience to
prove a point.