since i regularly get emails telling me of impending disaster...and i'm sure you do as well, i offer a short tut on how to spot a hoax.
virus hoaxes are quite prevalent and are a form of social engineering. they rely on fear and misinformation to spread. many of these types of things are spread by well meaning but uninformed users (your dad, your sister and that helpful person on that listserv you belong to who mails all 9000 users)
many of these hoaxes are fairly innocuous but they can cause several problems. the first is that some hoaxes actually call for you to delete actual OS system files. (sulfnbk.exe is the most "popular' hoax of this type.) the next problem is that many users are fooled by a hoax, find out about it and then tend to discount the true dangers of malware. the worst problem is that some clever malware writers have taken advantage ofhoaxes and written true malware which takes advantage of previously harmless hoaxes by attaching malicious code to a "hoax" email.
how to tell
The Urgency Factor
or as i sometimes call it the exclamation ratio. count the number of !!!!! in your warning mail. anything over one should raise alarms. example..this is the most destructive virus ever!!!!...
Exploding Computer Syndrome
many hoaxes offer dire warnings of critical hardware damage when in fact almost no malware actually does physical damage to a system (CIH being a noteable exception...)
Pseudo-Credible Source
often hoax writers will add an apparently reliable source which on closer inspection are false. many hoaxes contain "in an announcement by {IBM, AOL, Microsoft}"...none of these sources generally make statements on malware but for the average user, if they feel that a a message has the credibility of a microsoft, it must be true. the same doesn't necessarily apply for a real announcement from kapersky or symantec, which are far less household names.
Pass-It-On
a major clue is the line, "forward this to everyone you know" this is the key to the propogation of a hoax and is usually the dead give away...
conclusion
we've all heard the saying if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. my thought for the day when it comes to virus warnings...if it seems seems too bad to be true it probably isn't...if you experience any of these symptoms head to your nearest av vendor website and check out the hoax section...and send the person who sent you the hoax the link as well with a note that tells them to check before passing these things on. you'll do us all a favor.
EDIT:
ok...ok...i was too lazy last night but here's a list of links...
Kapersky - http://www.viruslist.com/eng/index.html?tnews=1005
McAfee - http://vil.nai.com/VIL/hoaxes.asp
Sohpos - http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/hoaxes/
Symantec - http://sarc.com/avcenter/hoax.html
TrendMicro - http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/hoaxes/hoax.asp
CA - no specific page but search for hoax
and of course www.vmyths.com ...(except they've got waaay too many pop up ads these days...)
