Attention all. virus warning

[teresa green]

Son tells me a virus called "postcard" is causing havoc around the world. DONT open any message called POSTCARD even from a friend. It will totally burn your "C" drive hard disc.:sad:

[[Steve]]

Did your son forward you an email?

Is it written in a sensationalist way?

If you read it next week, next month, or next year would it seem to be current?

Does it exhibit a lack of references (i.e. real links that work) to a well known authority to confirm it?

Does it use appeals to authority? (i.e. the FBI reported this, or mention of one of the larger anti-virus companies).

Does it make stupid claims (like "will completely burn your C drive")?

If the message exhibits more than about, oh, ZERO of these then it's a fake and has probably been circulating for years.

check on snopes, or simply google for some of the words in the email (like "postcard mail burn C drive" (the first hit is titled "Postcard Image Virus Hoax"

[Ultralights]

it will burn your hard disc? using a match?


oh, and if it is real, ahh the joys of a Mac.

[Offchocks]

Teresa

I googled "postcard virus" and it would seem to be a hoax.

[HotDog]

According to Snopes it's a real one and nasty!

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp

I have also checked it on Google which confirms that it is not a hoax.

[teresa green]

Guys if it is a hoax good, if not I would be remiss not to mention it, as usually my son is right, as he is a computer geek. (but like the rest of us he makes mistakes) for a start he is not a female and as you all well know they are ALWAYS right!

[WannaBeBiggles]

HotDog, don't know where you dug that link up from... however this might shed some more light on this HOAX http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_postcard_virus.htm it even uses the "Burn" term...

Gotta love when people pass on uniformed information to even less informed people... like the visually impaired leading the blind :p

[HotDog]

Fair enough Biggles, POSTCARD is different from POSTCARD FROM YOUR FAMILY but close enough not to be opened unless you know the difference. Cheers, HD.

[FGD135]

teresa,

Your son is either very young or not really a geek.

Tell him that the most distinguishing feature, always, about hoax emails is their frequent urgings that you pass on the message to as many people as possible.

This particular message only does that on 2 occasions. I have seen some that do this as many as 5 times (in the space of 2-3 paragraphs). Tell him, that as soon as he sees a message that is frequently asking to be passed on, it is most probably a hoax.

I find these hoax emails rather interesting. I believe that what motivates the hoaxer is the idea that their little creation will be circulating round and round the internet for years - a bit like the motivation behind some graffiti artists.

Some hoax emails are not true hoaxes, but the motivation behind the creator is still the same. For example, when the British toddler, Madelene McCann, went missing, there was an email going around that asked people to keep a lookout for her.

The email detailed important physical characteristics of the girl so could have been more "useful" than hoax, but it nevertheless had all the characteristics of the hoax email - namely: in 5 places (including the subject line) it urged the reader to pass it on to as many people as possible; loose formatting and grammar; no true "officialdom" about the notice.

[Unhinged]

For goodness sake, I thought we were past these loopy warnings.

Your post is a classic case of "the warning is the virus". By promoting the continuation of such an email chain, your email is, in fact, the virus.

Simple fact: No computer virus can burn your hard drive.

Some more reading here: http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1678
and here: http://www.jcu.edu.au/office/itr/compiu/emailvirus.shtml

Now please stop spreading rubbish.

[Tidbinbilla]

I received this very email about 2 months ago. It proceeded to take control of one of my email accounts and spammed all my addresses attached to that account with "You have received a postcard from Tidbinbilla". Therein lies the problem where you believe the "postcard" is from a trusted source.

It took some time to regain control of the account. A password change fixed that.

I received another yesterday purporting to be from "a friend". Deleted on the spot.

Be careful out there folks.

TID