There is an email circulating that says any email titled Merry Christmas will contain a had drive eating virus. This is a hoax. Here is the link – http://www.hoax-slayer.com/merry-christmas-virus-hoax.shtml
The email I received this morning that had been forwarded a few times. It said:
"VIRUS ALERT!!
http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/zafi.asp
You should be alert during the next days:
Do not open any message with an attached file called ‘Merry Christmas’
regardless of who sent it, It is a virus that opens as an Open Log Fire
and will burn the whole hard disc in your computer.
This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address
in his/her contact list, that is why you should send this e-mail to all
your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to
receive the virus and open it.
If you receive a mail called ‘Merry Christmas’, though sent by a friend, do
not open it and shut down your computer immediately. This is the worst
virus announced, it has been classified by Microsoft as the most
destructive virus ever.
This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair
yet for this kind of virus. This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector
of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept."
Again – This is a hoax. The link to Snopes even confirms it. This WAS a threat in 2004, but every anti-virus software company has a detection and removal signature for this.
And – Merry Christmas!
DEC
About the Author:
I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com