ASP hoax

This hoax virus alert, which appeared in November 1998, claims that the Association of Shareware Professonals (ASP) has distributed software infected with a computer virus.

The alert runs as follows:

Virus Alert! Please Forward and Distribute Immediately! Virus Alert! Please Forward and Distribute Immediately! Virus Alert! Please Forward and Distribute Immediately! Virus Alert! Please 4ward and Distribute Immediately! Virus Alert! Please Forward and Distribute Immediately! Virus Alert! Please Forward and Distribute Immediately! Virus Alert! Please Forward and Distribute Immediately!

(ASP logo)

A computer virus was distributed by the Association of Shareware Professionals. The ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. To prevent this virus from getting into the hands of children or people who might deliberately or accidentally cause harm, you are requested to contact these officials for clarification before using any software displaying the logo shown above.

The message ends with a list of officials and their email addresses. The intention is probably to generate a massive volume of unnecessary email for the addresses listed. The warning should be ignored.

Many virus hoaxes:

• falsely claim to describe an extremely dangerous virus
• use pseudo-technical language to make impressive-sounding (but impossible) claims
• falsely claim that the report was issued or confirmed by a well-known company
• ask you to forward it to all your friends and colleagues

As usual, you are urged not to pass on warnings of this kind, as the continued re-forwarding of these hoaxes simply wastes time and email bandwidth.

It is possible that you may receive a hoax via email with a file attached. Obviously, such file attachments should be treated with caution as they may be virus infected. Sophos recommends deleting virus hoax emails, whether they contain file attachments or not.

Sophos suggests a policy to help prevent hoaxes from spreading in your company.