17 Jul 2000
Pretty Park: Hoax or virus?
Recently some customers have become confused by an email that is
circulating around the internet.
The email reads:
Hi Everyone,
DO NOT OPEN "PRETTY PARK." It is a virus that will erase your whole
"C" drive. It will come to you in the form of an e-mail from a
familiar person. I repeat DO NOT OPEN. DELETE RIGHT AWAY. I don't
know how it gets into your address book, but a "friend" sent it to
me. Luckily for me I had not opened it yet. She was not as lucky
and now she can't even start her computer! Forward this to everyone
in your address book. I would rather receive this warning 25 times
then not receive it once!
Sophos researchers advise that although there is a virus called
Pretty Park (also known as W32/Pretty) it does not work as
described above.
A detailed analysis of the genuine W32/Pretty virus can be read
here.
It is possible that the above email did not start as a
deliberate hoax, but as a well-intentioned but misguided warning to
other computer users.
Sophos has described a policy which can prevent hoaxes and
unwanted virus scares from spreading inside your company.
About Sophos
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing complete security solutions that are simple to deploy, manage, and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, mobile and network security solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.