Subject: Re: [Asrg] Trust relationships etc.

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 19:31:58 +0000 (GMT)

[snipped antivirus-software-generated claim that it's scanned a plain text 
message and found it to be virus-free...!]

>> This is another laugh... has anybody ever seen a legitimate, dangerous virus 
> (the kind that antivirus software might catch, I mean) contained in a PLAIN 
> ASCII TEXT E-mail?

> You mean like "Delete this dangerous file" (which is actually an OS
file) " and warn all your friends about it"?

Or the well-known "honor system" "Aggie" virus... the one that tells people to 
delete all the files on their hard drive and then forward the message to all 
their friends?

Sure, we can joke about ludicrous stuff like that, but it (IMHO at least) it 
doesn't accomplish anything good to promote the idea to people that there is any 
value in antivirus programs suggesting that they're going to find a virus in 
plain ASCII text!

> It isn't that much of a stretch to have the virus text send people to
a legitimate-looking web site for a replacement file that's actually
the virus.

At least, once you banish HTML, that link won't be misrepresented... where the 
thing you click on says "http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com" but where 
underneath the HTML tag, it routes you off to some hard numerical IP address in 
Romania or Bulgaria or something.

Gordon Peterson                  http://personal.terabites.com/
1977-2002  Twenty-fifth anniversary year of Local Area Networking!
Support free and fair US elections!  http://stickers.defend-democracy.org
12/19/98: Partisan Republicans scornfully ignore the voters they "represent".
12/09/00: the date the Republican Party took down democracy in America.

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---

From: Seth Breidbart <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 15:58:38 -0400 (EDT)

> Romania or Bulgaria or something.

Sure, it would have to say "http://WINDOWSUPDATE.MICR0S0FT.COM" or the
like.  BFD.

Seth