I regularly receive all the circulated email virus rumors, so I thought I'd shed some light on this particular one that I received today. The email warns of two viruses; one regarding the hanging of Osama Bin Laden and the other about a virus in an attachment called the Olympic Torch. The content of the email is as follows:
DO NOT WANT TO SCARE YOU BUT WHY TAKE A CHANCE!!!!!!!!!! TWO SUBJECT LINES of
which to be AWARE .
Just verified this with Snopes and it is REAL. ALSO WENT TO TRUTH OR FICTION,
IT'S on their site also.
PLEASE INFORM EVERYONE you know !
1.) Emails with pictures of Osama Bin-Laden hanged are being sent and the
moment that you open these emails your computer will crash and you will not be
able to fix it!
If you get an e-mail along the lines of 'Osama Bin Laden Captured' or 'Osama
Hanged', don't open the Attachment!!!!
This e-mail is being distributed through countries around the globe, but
mainly in the US and Israel .
Be considerate & send this warning to whomever you know.
2.) You should be alert during the next few days:
Do not open any message with an attached file called 'Invitation' regardless
of who sent it.
It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which 'burns' the whole hard
disc C of your computer!!!!
This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in
his/her contact list, that is why you should send this E-mail to all your
contacts.
Have not yet bothered to check this out so just forwarding just in case!
F.
It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and
open it.
If you receive an e-mail called 'invitation', even though sent by a friend.
Do not open it!!!
This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified by
Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.
This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for
this kind of virus..
This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where other vital
information is kept.
SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!!
Both of these are complete hoaxes, although the first is based on some truth. Back in 2004 an email circulated with links to supposed photos of the hanging of Bin Laden. In fact these links just directed victims to a page where a trojan was downloaded onto their computer. The current hoax alert offers no such links and refers to an email that isn't circulating anymore. And besides, we all now know that Bin Laden was killed in a firefight. The first message also claims to have verified the validity of the virus alert with the website Snopes, but actually checking out Snopes.com reveals this all to be completely false (http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/osama.asp).
The second virus alert claims to be in an attachment, and I hope that most people are aware of opening attachments in emails. This virus alert claims to have been discovered yesterday by McAfee and rated by Microsoft as the most destructive ever. However, a quick check on McAfee's theat activity list (http://home.mcafee.com/VirusInfo/ThreatActivity.aspx) does not confirm the existence of any such incredibly dangerous threats. In fact all of the most recently discovered threats by McAfee are classified as 'Low' threat.
Finally, Symantec have confirmed that this email is entirely a hoax (http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2007-053113-4142-99&tabid=2). Hoax Slayer have also verified that the email is a complete hoax. A full report from them can be seen at http://www.hoax-slayer.com/invitation-bin-laden-virus-warning.html.
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