The Olympic Torch Virus Hoax is back in circulation
in a big way. This time it's seen doing rounds predominantly
among Orkut Online Community members, informs Security
Analysts at MicroWorld Technologies.
The hoax mail that appeared for the first time in
the second week of February 2006, says you should
never open an email with an attachment named "Invitation",
regardless who sends it to you. Like a typical scare
monger it screams that the Virus will burn the whole
hard disk of your PC! In the pretext of educating
you about its spreading routine, the hoax goes onto
explaining how the entries in the address book of
a victim are stolen and how the Virus starts mass
mailing to those email addresses.
To lend some fabricated credibility to the hoax, the
email quotes CNN, Microsoft and Security firms. The
message ends with a strong plea to forward it to as
many people as possible so that the humanity shall
save their computer hard disks from massive destruction!
"The psychology behind hoax mails is an intriguing
subject to delve into. For many, it's just the curiosity
to see how fast and far these false mails travel,
while they derive some sadistic pleasure watching
its geometrical progression. Some other chain mails
are fraudulent, money-making tricks in the form of
Ponzi Schemes and Multi-Level Marketing, where they
just act as invitations to bigger troubles. And then
there are absolutely malicious ones spreading false
and harmful information among their recipients as
well," analyzes Sulabh Mahant, Security Expert
at MicroWorld Technologies.
There is a real, tangible cost to hoax mails. It will
dent your Collective Productivity, occupy large Server
spaces, choke bandwidth, clog mailboxes with unwanted
stuff and spread totally misleading information in
business communities. In year 2001, a false alarm
was raised by a hoax mail saying that a Windows Utility
file named 'sulfnbk.exe' with a funny looking icon,
was a Virus and got countless victims to delete that
useful OS component from their computers. If you see,
the harm it did was no less than a Virus!
"Regular technologies used in Spam fighting like
Real-time Black List, Reverse DNS or Gray Listing,
will fall flat in front of hoax mails as here the
sender is someone you know. Your spam fighting system
should be smart enough to learn and apply an acquired
Intelligence to spot and stop these mails from entering
mail boxes. That's where our unique and patent pending
technology called Non-Intrusive learning Patterns
(NILP) succeeds in filtering Mail Traffic using a
combination of Self-learning Capability and continuously
updated, research based feeds from MicroWorld Server,"
points out Govind Rammurthy, CEO, MicroWorld Technologies.
MicroWorld
MicroWorld (www.mwti.net
) is the developer of the world's first Real-Time
Anti-Virus and Content Security software eScan
for desktops and servers. Its communication security
software,
MailScan is the first comprehensive e-mail
scanner for your SMTP/POP3 Mail Server. MicroWorld
Winsock Layer (MWL) is the revolutionary technology
underlying these products, powering them to several
certifications and awards by some of the most prestigious
testing bodies, notable among them being Virus Bulletin,
Checkmark, TUCOWS, Red Hat Ready, and Novell Ready.
Combining their powerful scanner with MWL technology,
MicroWorld solutions provide a Real-Time Proactive
security for your systems. For network security of
enterprises, eConceal Firewall is the latest powerful
offering from MicroWorld.
To learn more, kindly visit http://www.mwti.net.
