AltaVista

The AltaVista virus scare first appeared in July 1998. Part of the email reads:

Today interfax press agency I've just got news which are very important if you use Altavista search engine. The computers which control Altavistas files has got virus infection.The virus has got the name "Londhouse" and it's very dangerous.So don't use the Altavista because it's a very big possibility that you get virus infection to your own computer. You have to understand how big risk this is to everybody who use the internet. Please, warn your friends about this risk.

This is another crude attempt to cause concern among computer users and create unnecessary Internet traffic - at the time of writing there is no known virus called "Londhouse", and it is also not possible to become infected with a virus simply by using an Internet search engine.

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.