Incompetence
The mail/webserver has been down for over a week. It’s still down as I write this. Hooray for Phillip!
DO NOT CLICK IT
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 06:07:47 -0600 (CST) From: Jonathan Koren To: csgrads Subject: A General Flame On Mon, 29 Mar 2004 someone in regards to "hi" wrote: > your name is wrong! > > [ Part 2, Application/OCTET-STREAM (Name: "warez.htm.exe") 32KB. ] > [ Cannot display this part. Press "V" then "S" to save in a file. ] Let me start out by saying that this email isn't directed at any one person, but rather is a general flame to the SIU CS graduate student community at large. For some reason, several times every semester, someone (and it's not always the same person mind you) decides to spread email worms. I use the word "decides" because because email worms can't spread on their own. They need a person to make the concious decision to execute them. Apparently what goes through these persons' minds is: "Hmm. I have received an unexpected email from someone I may or may not know. This email contains a cryptic subject line and an even more cryptic body. Oh look! It also has, an executable attachment, with a name that is a poor attempt to camouflage the fact that is an executable. I've heard of email worms, and I've heard that they propagate as executable attachments. I wonder if this one. LET'S SEE! *click* HUZZAH! IT IS! I AM THE GREATEST!". The thought process is either that, or some here need to take cs200 or some other remedial "Let's Learn the Computer!" course. In the interest of time, and my sanity, I'll review the most salient point. If the filename's extension (the letters after the last dot (the thing that looks like this -> . (the speck, not the arrow))) is "exe", "com', "vbs", "shm", "pif", "bat", or that of any other executable (a program (a file you can run (something like "solitare"))) then DO NOT CLICK IT! I know that had alot of technical jargon in it, so I'll simplify it. If you are not expecting an attachment, and you do not recognize the type of attachment, then DO NOT CLICK IT! It's just that simple, and just that preventable. I too understand the strong pull of the siren song of curiosity, but I implore you. For the greater good, resist temptation. The executable you received via email is most likely an email worm. It is equally likely that the worm has some other nefarious purpose than mere propagation. If you want to know what it does, examine it with a hexeditor, but UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES RUN IT. I would have thought that with all of us being bright students, and having earned degrees in computer science from fine institutions of higher learning from all over the world, we would know better, but alas, I am apparently mistaken. So in conclusion, STOP CLICKING THE DAMN EMAILS! Thank you. -- Jonathan Koren 95% of email .sig quotes are incorrect jkoren(at)cs.siu.edu or completely fabricated. http://www.cs.siu.edu/~jkoren/ -- Benjamin Franklin