Everyone has fallen for at least one.  What are they?  They are provocative but untrue emails that warn of a horrendous
computer virus or describe a frightening story.  Some offer a plea to help kids that don’t need help.  Others make a request for
emails to be sent to politicians or businesses.  Many tell of a giveaway product scam or how to make fast money.  They are
called hoax messages.

States the Computer Incident Advisory Capability page,

  “Not only are these messages time consuming and costly, they may also be damaging to a person's or organization's
          reputation as in the case of the Jessica Mydek and the American Cancer Society chain letters.”

Hoaxes waste time and money.  They clog networks and annoy email recipients.   Jeff Richards’ site reports,

“A pass-it-along e-mail could create a pyramid effect: If the originator of an email hoax sent this to 300 users…and
 each of them passed it along to 5 people, that would be 1,500 e-mails sent. If each of those people passed it along to
    5 people, that would be 7,500 e-mails sent…[And so on…] This chokes the system and gives IS [Information
                              Systems] department[s] massive headaches."

What can be done?  Eliminate junk mail.  Do not respond to the sender or send the email to friends in your address book.
Learn how to identify a hoax by visiting the below web sites.  How do you look up the hoax on these web sites?  Each hoax has
a title that is usually taken from the text of the suspicious email.  Here are a few examples: “Pen pal Greetings”, “Win a
Holiday”, “Join the Crew” or “Good Times”.

                      Web sites designed to debunk hoaxes, viruses and chain letters:
                             These sites tell how to identify a valid warning--
                        And what to do or not do if you think a message is a hoax…

http://ciac.llnl.gov
CIAC contains virus and chain letter hoaxes; the chain letter contains: the hook, the threat and the request

http://www.Vmyths.com/
Learn the consequences of believing in computer virus myths, hoaxes, urban legends;
Search computer virus hoaxes from A to Z

http://www.nonprofit.net/hoax/hoax.html
Hoax catalogue of misinformation, classic urban legends and myths, business and government paranoia

http://w3.gwis.com/~jrich92/hoaxes.htm
Jeff Richards’ site describes misinformation, bogus stories, viruses, hoaxes and net lore

http://www.sangfroid.com/writes/hoaxes.html
M.L. Grant describes three of the most widely known hoax chain letters

http://sassman.net/virushoax/
Dave shows how real computer viruses work

http://www.hoaxkill.com/index2.shtml
Check this site for the suspicious email; If it’s not listed, send the message to hoaxcheck@hoaxkill.com and they’ll find out if it’s
a hoax for you

                                   I don’t want junk mail anymore!

If you often receive junk email, use the mail filter located in your browser program.  Type in the address or subject line of the
email.  If there is a next time, this sender’s email will automatically be sent to the trash folder.

                                 Can I get a virus by reading an email?

Not likely.  Viruses usually* travel via an email attachment, but only if you open it.  The best advice is not to open an attachment
from someone you do not know.  Unfortunately, sometimes someone you do know unwittingly sends an attachment that has a
virus.  I received one from a relative and if I did not have Norton Anti-Virus installed, my hard drive would have suffered. So
for your protection, install an Anti-virus program.  Also, stay current on mail reader service packs containing fixes and patches.
Read more on virus protection in an upcoming column!

*Exceptions are certain viruses like the “Love Bug” which associate with the Microsoft Outlook Reader Package.

(October)

 She can be reached by email at jana@barberio.com