The AOL4FREE Scare

From: Gary Weimer
To: "BIS-ProdDev"
Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 15:21:41 -0300
Subject: AOL4FREE clarification

Here is some clarification regarding AOL4FREE courtesy of Michael J Hachey:

Recently there has been a lot of confusion regarding "AOL4FREE".

Before I eliminate the confusion I want to impress upon you:

There is no reason to panic.
There have been no reports of this Trojan Horse at any of the Kodak sites worldwide. Our Anti-Virus suppliers have ensured us AOL4FREE is extremely rare.
We do not anticipate any spread of AOL4FREE at Kodak.
This is not a self-spreading VIRUS.
The "Chain Letter" type note that many people have received was sent in error by many well meaning people.

CONFUSION:

Confusion around "AOL4FREE" has been generated because of three separate event -- the AOLF4FREE HOAX, AOL4FREE SCAM and the AOL4FREE Trojan Horse. The confusion is caused because all of them have AOL4FREE as part of their name.

If there was a major virus alert at Kodak, the information would be posted in 1) EKNEWS SECURIT, 2) SECURITY - available by entering SECURITY from any main panel in PROFS and 3) on the INTRANET in news group EK.SECURITY. The information would also be distributed to employees via the "Supervisor's INFO-LINE". A major virus alert would never come in the form of a chain letter like the one used for AOL4FREE.

AOL4FREE SCAM:

A former Yale computer science student wrote a MacIntosh Program used for gaining fraudulent accounts on AOL (American On-Line). The SCAM cost AOL thousands of dollars because the student distributed his computer program, AOL4FREE, to hundreds of other users.

AOL4FREE HOAX:

The original AOL4FREE HOAX was sent by E-Mail and claimed that within seconds of opening the E-Mail, your files would be deleted. A user cannot be infected or damaged simply by the subject line of an E-MAIL.

A HOAX is like a chain letter, it can spread very quickly because Kodak people like to help others, however, it causes unneeded concern, wrong information and is a waste of company computer resources.

A HOAX can normally be identified because it will say something like "Anyone who receives this must send it to as many people as possible".

A HOAX can be compared to a denial of service or harassment.

AOL4FREE.COM TROJAN HORSE:

It appears highly likely, the Trojan Horse was written as a response to the original HOAX in an attempt to confuse computer users.

A TROJAN HORSE is a program that deliberately does unpleasant things to your computer. THEY ARE NOT CAPABLE OF SPREADING THEMSELVES. In order to do damage, a Trojan Horse must be executed, if you receive it as an attachment to an E-Mail, DO NOT double click (open) it. Trojan Horses are not frequently encountered.

Although the AOL4FREE.COM TROJAN HORSE is very damaging in that it deletes all the files from your C: drive, the chance of getting it is very rare.
--
Gary Weimer

Please email bilbo@frontiernet.net with comments and corrections.