Virus or Hoax

[oxygen]

Hey all

I got this virus alert from a friend sayin

If someone with the email "aflino62@hotmail.com", do not accept as apparently it is "an advanced virus that will wipe all your files off your HD, including all important files/documents.".

Did ne of you hear bout this virus.....or is it a hoax? I did a search on it and apparently its been posted in many forums... but no one is sure bout this...

Is it possible to get infected just by adding a user to your buddy list....?

[nihil]

Watch out buddy!

That's the one that will open your fridge and drink your beer :D

If you accept e-mails from people you don't even know, you have not been paying much attention to this site's contents?

Adding someone to your "buddy list" will not give you a virus, as it is just an entry in an address book of sorts.

I am voting "hoax" ;)

Cheers

[bpiedlow]

While I would think HOAX at first glance of this info, the one thing that does strike me as odd is that this warning has been posted on about a dozen differant securrity boards I visit.

When doing a quick search for the email address on yahoo I find that its also been posted on others including a few from other (non-english) speaking countries...

If it is a hoax, it is one of the fastest spreading hoaxes I've seen in awhile.

RRP

[i90t@dd]

I don't think there are viruses advanced enough yet to wipe out HD . But i am newb so i could be wrong. I read it in a book that was was written over a year ago. Is there anyone out there that knows this for sure?
I did read that most virus hoaxes claim they will "wipe all files off HD."

[groovicus]

A virus most definately can wipe your hard drive.....not that I am any expert. A virus can do pretty much anything the creator wants it to do.

[nihil]

If the payload was to format the hard drive that would screw most average users? Particularly if it reformatted NTFS to FAT32 and vice versa

Cheers

[moxnix]

Originally posted here (http://www.AntiOnline.com/showthread.php?threadid=252184#post697776) by nihil
Watch out buddy!

That's the one that will open your fridge and drink your beer :D
I want one like that/.......I want to drink all of nihil's beer. Its better than mine (cause it is his....lol)
Seriously though, it is possible to cause the formating of someones drive, but what is the point. Most virus and worms are attempting to spread themselves, not distroy their hosts.

[groovicus]

You're right moxnix, but as was being discussed in another thread, if it infected 10 computers, then those 10 infected 10 more, then after x days it wiped your partition table, it would have accomplished it's goal, and more..

Sorry :) didn't mean to get this thread off track.

[|The|Specialist]

Originally posted here (http://www.AntiOnline.com/showthread.php?threadid=252184#post697779) by i90t@dd
I don't think there are viruses advanced enough yet to wipe out HD . But i am newb so i could be wrong. I read it in a book that was was written over a year ago. Is there anyone out there that knows this for sure?
I did read that most virus hoaxes claim they will "wipe all files off HD."

Actually if all it did was delete a few files then no.... its not a virus its just plain ol' malware. However you could make a over-writer very easly. It overwrites the file with its own code... since there is replication it can be considered a virus. And then there are appenders which attach itself to other files.

[nihil]

In the old days we used to refer to total destruction viruses as "vandals", but I haven't seen that expression used for a while?

The scenario was: land-propagate-destroy. It was sort of self-sanitising, as it gave the victim plenty to think about other than to worry who else might have been infected? anyway it had destroyed the evidence in the process.

[Soda_Popinsky]

About the buddy list thing... You might be thinkin of that talkstocks.net or realphx or buddypictures.net adware scheme, where you link to adware that changes your profile. Maybe an virus is going around that overwrites your profile, and sends an email saying, "Check out my profile" to someone else with the victims screen name, and then the cycle starts over.

[ghostofanonion]

People are gulible I'll vote hoax

[MrLinus]

Definate hoax. Looking at the results of Google Search (http://www.google.ca/search?q=aflino62%40hotmail.com&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=) only confirms it. Evidentally someone is putting this one through a lot of gaming sites and such.

[moxnix]

I think you are right MsMittens, but it is definately new. It hasn't reached the Urban Legends Reference Pages yet. ( http://www.snopes.com/info/whatsnew.asp )

[ghostofanonion]

I wonder, is writting a hoax just as self gratisfying as writing a virus. I mean if it's for fame and glory how easy would that be.

Beware this virus, comes as email savethechildren@welfare4life.com it specifically attacks ICQ users and has a encoded msg stating "I am ICQ King U will all pay I am teh C.L.I.T. Commander"

Now My slogan is popular I can't get in deep for hacking or nothing and I have become script kiddie of the month in my Script Kiddie group cuase I told them I wrote the virus and... well you guys are getting the message.. I hope

[ghostofanonion]

oh On the topic of urban myth and hoaxes. WAS there ever a virus that targeted the new ATX machines forcing the hard drive to continuelly spin itself into a revolutionary style death (Hmmm bad pun..... I like it)

Seriously I've heard so many times aboutt his viri and I like the theme of it, it's actually scawee. But does it exist and if not..... hmm how does one. oh yes irc...

[oxygen]

I don't think this is a new one.....because some were posted in other forums as early as october

[Striek]

I may be missing something here, but how on God's Green Earth could a virus that wipes your entire hard drive ever allow you to infect anyone else after the fact?

[ghostofanonion]

This virus dosn't WIPE your Hard drive it cuases the equivelent of overrevving your engine untill your HDD burns itself out or so rumour is told. And a virus that WIPES your hard drive only has to replicate itself BEFORE it wipes the drive to have done it's job. Infiltrate Propogate , wait till you see the whites in there eyes , destroy

[SirDice]

If the email doesn't contain anything verifyable (links to antivirus sites i.e.) and it ends with the 'advice' to send it to everyone in your addressbook you can be sure it's a hoax. If it smells like a hoax and looks like a hoax it usually is a hoax :D

I did find some references but they where all in Dutch. For the Dutch speaking people here they can check out http://www.nepwaarschuwing.nl.

Can you post the entire email? It may contain some other pointers to help identify it.

[Soda_Popinsky]

I wrote a virus that flushes your toilets and drinks all your orange juice. True story, wrote it in VB... ;)

[ShagDevil]

Oxygen, You could also check Symantec's list of hoax e-mails as a precaution. It's not a means to all ends but, it's a start. Good Luck.

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html

[moxnix]

Originally posted here (http://www.AntiOnline.com/showthread.php?threadid=252184#post698304) by Soda_Popinsky
I wrote a virus that flushes your toilets and drinks all your orange juice. True story, wrote it in VB... ;)
wrote it in VB... ......Don't you mean V8.

[oxygen]

yes SirDice...its does say to send it to everyone in the add book.......

I have never heard of any virus that will affect your comp by just adding a user to the buddy list......so just wanted to make sure with you guys.......

Thanks for all the replies ......

well nihil......i finished my beers after ur heads up....... so i think m safe in that area......:-)

[nihil]

Soda_Popinski,

You really must STOP reading Ali1's "tutorials".........hey you have kicked the "beer", "bourbon", the "coke" the "snow".....drive by's and all that fun.

Don't flush the toilets! we spent a lot of money on that environmentally unsound coloured stuff in there!

Hang in with the main crowd huh?

Cheers :D :D

[Und3ertak3r]

Check any of the Standard Hoax sites:

Vmyths (http://www.vmyths.com/)
Virus Hoaxes (http://hoaxinfo.com/)
Urban Legends (http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/virus.htm)

or check the AV companies listed here (http://www.users.bigpond.com/techno-glenn/anti-Virus%20Companies.htm)
And What are the current threats? Same Site (http://www.users.bigpond.com/techno-glenn/virus-info-new.htm)

Oh and if all else fails www.google.com

.....

As for virii that force "Spin Cycle of Death" Did exist in the pre 640Mb days (only some brands of drive.. not sure now it may have even been pre IDE)..
Malware that Cleans your HDD..Well how about some of the oldies, chernobyl virii.. a format wasn't a cure for this one.. it didn't clean the drive.. but it was a pain in the arse. Forget some of the others , but any script kiddy site will give you a tutorial on scripts and code to re-write the partition table and the MBR on DOS/Windaz systems..
Even as recentlly as pre SP1 for xp you could delete selected Folders or files on a users computer just with a URL.. But delete was one of the reported functions..

Cheers
(Dirty) Undies

[ghostofanonion]

I find it amusing that people don't think a virus can wipe your hard drive..
#1 not all virus' are written to get open security holes, certain malicious individuals just want to make my life difficult (Ever told an already PO'd customer his data is irretrevable unless he wants to pay upwards of $80 an hour to get it done.)
#2 it can be done therefore people will for it, jesus even a script could do it... I remember the old day's of IRC there was a rumour about it, dun know if it was true but in theory it could be done..