New virus

Mom just emailed me this.


I checked this out on the Snopes website and it is real.Subject:
> MAJOR VIRUS WARNING Anyone-using Internet mail such as
> Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and so on. This information arrived this
> morning, Direct from both Microsoft and Norton. Please send it
> to everybody you know who has access to the Internet.
&g t; You may receive an apparently harmless e-mail titled 'Mail
> Server Report' If you open either file, a message will appear
> on your screen saying: 'It is too late now, your life is
> no longer beautiful.'
> Subsequently you will LOSE EVERYTHING IN YOUR PC, And the
> person who sent it to you will gain access to your name, e-mail
> and password.
>
>
> This is a new virus which started to circulate on Saturday
> afternoon. AOL has already confirmed the severity, and the anti
> virus software's are not capable of destroying it.
>
> The virus has b een created by a hacker who calls himself 'life
> owner'.
>
> PLEASE SEND A COPY OF THIS E-MAIL TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS, And ask
> them to PASS IT ON IMMEDIATELY!
>
> THIS HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BY
> SNOPEShttp://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/mailserver.asp
> _________________________________________________________________
> Pack up or back up-use SkyDrive to transfer files or keep extra
> copies. Learn how.
>
hthttp://www.windowslive.com/skydrive/overview.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Refresh_skydrive_packup_042008


__________________________________________________

If you follow that link http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/mailserver.asp and read the last paragraph of the Snopes report, you'll see that while they do acknowledge an earlier threat, they are not giving this claim the credence suggested in the message.

How to make people take a hoax at face value: give them a real link to the real information, secure in the knowledge that most people will not bother to check it, on the assumption that somebody else already has.

Whether its real or not, I don't open email from anyone I don't know..so hopefully no viruses for me

Thanks for the warning!

Thanks for the warning...even if its not real, its good to know in case there was a small chance it was going around. Better safe than sorry. I never open email from anyone I don't know either. Plus all my emails are scanned for viruses too.

I always just delete the mail from people that I don't know, and I haven't heard of this one yet, but thanks for the warning!

"Mail Server" Virus Warming-Truth! & Fiction!


Summary of the eRumor:
A virus warning about an email that comes with a subject line of "Mail Server Report." The message says that it is a bad virus. The email is described as having a zip file attachment and says that you have sent out an email with a virus in it and that if you click the attachment, you can fix the problem. Another version says that you will lose all the files on your PC and that the email is being sent by a hacker named "life owner."

The Truth:

The "Mail Server Report" virus is real and began circulating in 2006.

Another version of the "Mail Server" virus warning began circulating in 2008, however, that is a hoax.
It all gets very confusing.

The original email that was sent in 2006 warned of a real virus, according virus protection sites such as Mcafee, Symantec, and F-Secure. The email pretends to be warning you that it has been determined that emails containing a worm are being sent from your computer and that you should install the attachment to update your computer and, presumably, stop the virus from being sent. The problem is that the attachment itself is a virus so if you are duped into opening it, it searches your computer for email addresses and sends itself to them. F-Secure names the real virus as Warezov. Other virus protection sites called it Stration.bb or W32/Stration-X.

A second version began circulating in 2008 this is a hoax. It claims that if you receive an email with the words "Mail Server Report" and open it, you'll receive a message on your screen that says "It is too late now, your life is no longer beautiful" and that you'll "lose everything on your PC." That actually borrows wording from yet another virus hoax called "Life is Beautiful."

Be sure you have good virus protection software and that your virus definitions are up to date.

Updated 4/2/08


A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:

I hate viruses... They stink!!

Well real or not, it's good to have the warning. Our anti-virus software is updated regularly and neither of us open mails from people we don't know. So hopefully, we'll avoid any of the nastiness. Thanks

Thanks for the warning and the warning about the warning - I normally do not down load virus protection from e-mail links - I will go straight to the anti-virus company or Microsoft who ever by typing the the url myself in a separate browser. I am like others if I do not know who it is from I simply delete it without opening.