Hallmark Postcard Virus? Yeah, Right. . . .

I was trying to catch up on some stories when I got a note from a colleague warning about the Hallmark postcard virus. That set off a few bells here as I scrambled figure out how to cover it.

The virus is a trojan sent with a message about receiving a Hallmark postcard from a friend. There are different varieties of the message. The one I got was this:

Please!!! DO NOT DISREGARD THIS MESSAGE!!! it's real....

Just want to make sure you are covered HUGE VIRUS COMING !!! PLEASE READ and FORWARD !!!

(I REMOVED THE URL SO I DON'T SPREAD THIS BY ACCIDENT! Joe)

Hi, I checked with Norton Anti-Virus, and they are gearing up for this virus!

I checked Snopes (URL above:), and it is for real!! Get this E-mail message sent around to your contacts ASAP.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS! You should be alert during the next few days. Do not open any message with an attachment entitled 'POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK,'regardl ess of who sent it to you. It is a virus which opens A POSTCARD IMAGE, which 'burns' the whole hard disc C of your computer. This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list. This is the reason why you need to 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' POSTCARD,' even though sent to you by a friend, do not open it! Shut down your computer immediately. This is the worst virus announced by CNN. 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.

It appears to have been around for a couple years, but it keeps popping up now and again.

Checking on it shows it's a hoax. A call to Symantec, makers of the Norton security software, confirms it's a hoax.

A "hoax." Does that mean the virus is a hoax? Or that the conditions surrounding it is a hoax?

I don't want to get that detailed. What I want is to stop these crazy things.

For that, I need your help. Here's how to do it:

-- First, have your security software up to date. Duh. We've heard it before. We'll hear it again.

-- Second, stop forwarding these emails. If you feel you absolutely must warn your friends, then just send them a new email with no links saying something like: Hey, Joe, someone warned me about not opening any emails from a friend sending me a Hallmark postcard. I just thought you'd like to know."

-- Third, don't click on any Web links in such emails. In the email sent to me, there are two links to www.snopes.com. I absolutely love that site. A lot of great information on hoaxes of all kinds. And, in fact, if you go to www.snopes.com and do a keyword search on "hallmark," BINGO! there's the story behind the virus. However, if you click on the link in the email, even though it looks like its from Snopes, Heaven only knows were you will go. There's too much of a risk that it's where the originator of the virus wants you to go.

No more ranting from me today. . . .