NAC - Viruses being passed around -- WARNING!!!!

[Benjamin Weste Pearre]

> Sorry, but advance warning is one of the few ways to stop this crap.

I disagree.  Remember that there are some viruses that use your
wetware (aka "brain") to propagate.  You've all seen them.  They look
like "There is a new virus going around that will eat your hard disk,
steal away your girlfriend, and install Fram filters in all your cars.
Please forward this warning to everyone you know."  Of course, those
don't tend to have URLs for more information (or expiration dates),
but the point is that forwarding warnings all over the place is NOT a
good alternative to letting email virus forward itself all over the
place.

The correct solution is simply this:

1) DON'T USE OUTLOOK EXPRESS!!!
1a) In fact, don't use any more Microsoft software than you need to.
2) Change any defaults that allow you to do stupid things, like
   opening executable attachments.  AFAIK, only Microsoft ships with
   so many braindead default vulnerabilities, but I'm not familiar
   with all the Windows software out there, so don't take my word for
   it!
3) READ ABOUT SECURITY VULNERABILITIES!  Check for new patches
   frequently.  Install them.  This applies to Linux, MacOS, Solaris,
   or whatever you're running, but again, it's most important for
   Microsoft both because Microsoft tends to be less secure than
   anything else and because it's very popular (ie a good target).
4) Stop running untrusted exectuables on your system.  A virus scanner
   will take care of most of the problems, most of the time, IFF you
   keep it up to date, and even then, it's not foolproof.

Please forward this to everyone you know.

Just kidding ;)

Note the Audi content: I mentioned oil filters!  Hehe.

Cheers (:
-Ben

-- 
Ben Pearre          1990 200TQA          http://hebb.mit.edu/~ben