email viruses.

KULIKOVSKY, Andrew (AKULIKOV@baea.com.au)
17 Dec 96 11:03:27 EST

>Is an email virus possible?
>
>No. There is no way for a virus to spread simply by reading email. A few
>people have Gone through mental gymnastics trying to dream up a way such
>a thing could be done. The closest anyone has come is to infect a
>program with a virus, encode the program into text with uuencode,
>binhex, etc., and email the encoded program. The person receiving the
>email would have to download the mail to their hard drive, decode it,
>and run the infected program. That's not even close to the claims made
>for the spread of Good Times.
>
>You should, of course, be wary of any file attachments a stranger sends
>you. At the least, you should check such file attachments for viruses
>before running them.

This is not quite true.

There is a virus called "The Word Concept Virus" which is actually
written in Word Basic. This virus can be transmitted by mailing a
Word document to someone and is activated by the receiver
reading the document.

The payload varies depending on who has played around with
the source - but whatever you can do in Word Basic, this virus
may be able to do.

So take care reading attached Word documents.

cheers,
Andrew

+------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Andrew S. Kulikovsky B.App.Sc(Hons) MACS
|
| Software Engineer
| British Aerospace Australia
| Technology Park, Adelaide
| ph: +618 8290 8268
| fax: +618 8290 8800
| email: akulikov@baea.com.au
|
| What's the point of gaining everything this world has
| to offer, if you lose your own life in the end?
|
| ...Look to Jesus Christ
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| hO IESOUS KURIOS!
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