GEN: Wobbler NOT a virus ONLY A HOAX

[Jody Newman <jcnewma@ibm.net>]

Hi

I always check on messages that warn of viruses at Symantec...saw a
recent posting and checked it out...here's what Symantec had to say at
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/wobbler-hoax.html

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                     WOBBLER Virus Hoax

                              Aliases:
                                     California
                      Known Variants:
                                     Hoax
                      Infection Length:
                                     Hoax
                      Area of Infection:
                                     Hoax
                           Likelihood:
                                     Hoax
                     Region Reported:
                                     email
                       Characteristics:
                                     Hoax



                     Description:

                     The following two messages have been sent out by
email. They are both
                     versions of the same hoax. This "virus" does not
exist.

                     The hoax message includes one of the following
"warnings":


                          Dear All,
                          For your reference, take necessary
precautions.
                          If you receive an email with a file called
                          California, do not open the file.  The file
                          contains WOBBLER virus.

                          WARNING
                          This information was announced yesterday
morning
                          from IBM; AOL states that this is a very
                          dangerous virus, much worse than "Melissa",
and
                          that there is NO remedy for it at this time.
                          Some very sick individual has succeeded in
using
                          the reformat function from Norton Utilities
                          causing it to completely erase all documents
                          on the hard drive.  It has been designed to
work
                          with Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet

                          Explorer.  It destroys Macintosh and IBM
                          compatible computers.  This is a new, very
                          malicious virus and not many people know about
it.

                     Second sample of hoax message "warning":


                          VIRUS ALERT

                          If you receive an email with a file called
                          "California" do not open the file. The file
contains
                          the virus. This information was announced
yesterday
                          morning by IBM.

                          The report says that  "this is a very
dangerous
                          virus, much worse than "Melissa" and there is
NO
                          remedy for it at this time. Some very sick
                          individual has succeeded in using the reformat
function
                          from Norton Utilities causing it to completely
erase
                          all documents on the hard drive. It has been
                          designed to work with Netscape Navigator and
                          Microsoft Internet Explorer. It destroys
Macintosh
                          and IBM compatible computers. This is a new,
very
                          malicious virus and not many people know about
it
                          at this time.

                          Please pass this warning to everyone in your
address
                          book and share it with all your online friends
asap
                          so that the destruction it can cause may be
minimized.

                     Please ignore any messages regarding this "hoax"
and do not pass on any
                     messages regarding it. Passing on messages about
this hoax serves only to further
                     propagate it.

                     Write-up by: Motoaki Yamamura
                     Updated: August 26, 1999


--
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Jody Newman
Library Aide
Center School
Stow MA
newjody@massed.net (school)
jcnewma@ibm.net (home)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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