[FWDLK] List Virus Warning -- "README.EXE"

[Dave Stragand <dave.stragand@KETCHUM.COM>]

Beware the "Fatal Four" of Email Viruses & README.EXE

While our mailing lists are somewhat protected from most viruses by a
built-in size limitation, I thought it was important to warn y'all about a
new virus.

Viruses can slip through from any apparent sender, with any subject, and any
attachment name.  You may be seeing warnings about a new, fast-spreading
virus in an attachment called README.EXE.

If you have received this 'readme.exe' email, just delete it.  If you have
opened the attachment, please look below for instructions.  Oh, and of
course -- thanks to Microsoft... You can get and distribute this virus
simply by opening an infected email in Outlook... <sigh>.  Best you can do
is update your antivirus programs, folks, and use common sense in opening
attachments.

ALSO, and this is a twist -- it can infect web servers.  If you visit a web
page that asks you to download a file called README.EXE, README.EML, or
README.HTM (or README.HTML)... Don't open that either -- it's the same
virus.

The best way to protect yourself is to remember the "Fatal Four" of email
attachments: any attachment whose name ends with .vbs, .exe, .com, and .reg
could contain a virus, and it's usually best not to open any attachment you
didn't specifically request.

For more information:

http://vil.nai.com/vil/virusSummary.asp?virus_k=99209

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.nimda.a@mm.html

-Dave