Macro Virus Table - Defense Technical Information Center

HOAXES
Virus and Internet Hoaxes
Notes: As of 6/14/96, this virus is third or fourth hand rumor. No one in the Mac antivirus
community has seen this virus. I can find no one who claims to have actually touched it, or even
who knows someone who says they have touched it.
The message that is circulating around the network is as follows.
==========================================
"Just got word of a new virus called "Open Me." It looks to be a
Macintosh control panel virus. It hit one of the facilities in Denver in
a big way. At this point we don’t know where it came from or how it
spreads but it will destroy a hard disk. So if you bring up your Mac and
see the message Open Me - don’t do it.
Received from Dave Ferreira our local expert:
This is not a hoax. It appears to be a control panel type of virus that
can not be detected using SAM or Norton Anti-virus. The virus/control
panel wipes out the B-tree or B-catalog or whatever (basically wipes out
the location of every file on the hard disk)."
==========================================
Name: PENPAL GREETINGS!
Warning Hoax
Aliases: PENPAL GREETINGS! Warning Hoax, Penpal
Greetings
Type: Hoax.
Disk Location: Features:
Damage: Size: See Also:
Notes: PENPAL GREETINGS! Warning Hoax
The PENPAL GREETINGS! Hoax shown below appears to be an attempt to kill an e-mail chain
letter by claiming that it is a self starting Trojan that destroys your hard drive and then sends
copies of itself to everyone whose address in in your mailbox. Reading an e-mail message does
not run it nor does it run any attachments, so this Trojan must be self starting. Aside from the fact
that a program cannot start itself, the Trojan would also have to know about every different kind
of e-mail program to be able to forward copies of itself to other people. This warning is totally a
hoax.
FYI!
Subject: Virus Alert
Importance: High
If anyone receives mail entitled: PENPAL GREETINGS! please delete it WITHOUT
reading it. Below is a little explanation of the message, and what it would
do to your PC if you were to read the message. If you have any questions or
concerns please contact SAF-IA Info Office on 697-5059.
This is a warning for all internet users - there is a dangerous virus
370 CIAC Computer Virus Information Update May 21, 1998