The ILOVEYOU virus was technically a very good idea - apart from the fact that it was a virus! There are a lot of people who don't know much about computers, but have jumped on the internet and use Outlook from their PC World computers. Now working in that infamously hidious Dixons Stores Groups shops I know that, from experience in tech support there, that the vast majority of these would actually open anything that came in their inbox. If there was a huge survey done, then the results would show that most people don't know how to use a computer. Now, if an email came from a friend of theirs - they would open it and run whatever is attached! I applaud the authors use of dumb people! Microsoft and the like now have a battle on their hands - what alternatives to Microsoft is there that can stop such an outbreak. Enter alternative OSes like Linux. Microsoft is already looking bad, what with their Law suit and splitting of the company - something like this must be a PR nightmare. Coders and designers actually have to sit down now and think about the type of software they right, and the slackness that goes into them. The only way a "virus", so to speak, could be spread in Linux is if tampered code was downloaded from source (Need we say more, RedHat) - or email was sent to root and excuted as root / or downloaded and run as root. Every Linuxer/Unixer knows that root is common across the boards of this platform and has the equivalent of God powers in the OS world - but to control root you should have some noodle to have this role - *some* home Linux users aside. With more stories of virus outbreaks with devastating effects such as ILOVEYOU.vbs and VBS.NEWLOVE.A then the public suffers, but Linux will always come out shining. I wonder if there is a virus, based on the afformentioned that replaced the FAT32 partition with Ext2 and created /, /usr, /boot instead of Program Files. Oh wait a minute, isn't that the one "virus" Windows isn't expecting and can't recover from? Even the latest Virus definitions don't pick up on GNU/Linux written by L. Torvalds. :o) Now if you are wondering where I am going with this email - absolutely nowhere. I applaud you for reading this far and following my train of thought. Oh, and I'm not saying that the LOVExxxx virus authors are Linux advocates. But wouldn't it be funny if it was! If I hated Microsoft I'd try and destroy their credibility and their product. I don't - so I have an allabi! BTW - I haven't had much sleep - I'm going mad and I'm writing emails that has made you reply to in haste! Kev Jackson
-----Original Message----- From: juergen.braukmann@ruhr-west.de [mailto:juergen.braukmann@ruhr-west.de] Sent: 22 May 2000 19:53 To: SuSE Linux English Subject: Re: [SLE] Shooter Worm Found in the Wild
"Fred A. Miller" wrote:
Shooter Worm Found in the Wild
The South Park Shooter worm was discovered in the wild in
Europe. The
worm has the capacity to crash e-mail servers as it sends itself to the entire address book of the infected machine every 30 seconds. It also fills up hard drives. http://www.computeruser.com/news/00/05/13/news1.html
Well, reality comes sooner. When "ILOVEYOU" struck I said: "you must be mad to open an attachment if your [for not naticly english speaking people] native friends writes to you with that subject in english". Well, all germans will have a good excuse now, or rather not. Thing is, people are still too trusty.
Juergen
-- =========================================== __ _ Juergen Braukmann juergen.braukmann@gmx.de| -o)/ / (_)__ __ ____ __ Tel: 0201-743648 dk4jb@db0qs.#nrw.deu.eu | /\\ /__/ / _ \/ // /\ \/ / ===========================================_\_v __/_/_//_/\_,_/ /_/\_\
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