Let's use one warning that's currently in circulation as an example:
A new virus - WOBBLER. So just in case you do not know about it yet, please read what it says below: It will arrive on e-mail titled "CALIFORNIA". IBM and AOL have announced that it is VERY powerful, more so than Melissa, there is no remedy. It will EAT all your information on the hard drive and also destroys Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Do not open anything with this title and please pass this message on to all your contacts and anyone who uses your e-mail facility. Clicking on the message to get rid of it will open the email, set your filters to filter anything with that title to your trash folder and empty your folder without touching the email.
The first and most important clue is whether or not it lists a URL or e-mail address for more information. Real virus warnings almost always come from a reliable source such as Symantec, McAfee, or one of the other big anti-virus companies, and identify this in the message, with a URL (on the company site) for a page to visit for further information.
If a message lists no source, or refers in passing to large companies having supposedly authorized the warning but gives no contact information, like this one, you can be pretty sure it's a hoax. Also, it's worth noting the the companies that virus hoaxes so refer to in passing are almost never those associated with virus research. It's always Microsoft, AOL, IBM or Netscape, none of whom are heavily involved in virus research, but all of whom are names your average reader would recognize.
Does it claim that the virus will do something that is clearly impossible? Like destroying your hard drive simply by opening an e-mail message, or even clicking on it to delete it, as in this case? Reading, let alone selecting, an e-mail message cannot trigger a virus.
The one exception to this is if you are running Outlook Express on Windows, and have HTML e-mail turned on, in which case it is possible for an HTML message to contain a malicious VBscript. But these are not viruses per se, and are limited in their effect to certain types of systems. The best way to prevent them is to disable HTML e-mail, since it's mainly spammers that use it anyway, and most people find it annoying.
Also, please note that opening an *attachment* to an e-mail message *can* trigger a virus or trojan horse, especially if it's an executable file. *Never* open attachments unless you know for certain what they are and who sent them.
The tone of an e-mail can also be a clue. If it sounds extreme or hysterical, and is filled with capitals and multiple exclamation points, you can be pretty sure it's a hoax. Virus warnings from reputable companies are professionally written. The warning above does not have quite the hysterical tone that most of its kind do, but it is written in poor English, contains colloquialisms (like "eat your information"), and frequently uses all caps for emphasizing specific workds within a sentence, all of which are clues that it was not written by a professional.
What does it advise you to do about the virus? Real virus warnings usually advise you to update your anti-virus software, and often provide links to the sites where you can obtain the updates. Hoaxes usually provide little advice other than "Do not open a message called -----!!!".
Also, virus hoaxes almost always contain an urgent plea to "Forward this to everyone you know!!!!!", whereas real warnings usually do not.
The San Jose Valley Folklore Society's Urban Legend Reference Pages
http://www.snopes.com/
The AFU (alt.folklore.urban) Urban Legends Archive
http://www.urbanlegends.com/
About.com's Urban Legends Directory
http://urbanlegends.about.com/
The Hoaxkill Service
http://www.hoaxkill.com
Korova Multimedia's "Hoax of the Day" site
http://korova.com/virus/
Computer Virus Myths
http://kumite.com/myths
McAfee.com Virus Information Centre
http://vil.mcafee.com/villib/alpha.asp
Symantec AntiVirus Research Centre
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html
US Government Computer Incident Advisory Capability (CIAC)
(Info on both real viruses and hoaxes)
http://ciac.llnl.gov/
The About.com Urban Legends site (http://urbanlegends.about.com/) has more in-depth analyses of the identifying characteristics of hoaxes if you want to learn more.
Feel free to save this message or forward it anyone you think might find it useful. But not "everyone you know!!!!" :-)
Lynna Landstreet
Business: Spider Silk Design http://www.spidersilk.net/
Personal: Wild Ideas http://www.wildideas.net/