Hey You

Text of this virus hoax reads as follows:

IF YOU GET AN EMAIL TITLED "HEY YOU" DELETE IT IMMEDIATELY!!! EVEN IF IT IS FROM SOMEBODY YOU KNOW!!! IT IS A VIRUS THAT WILL OVER THE PROCESS OF 7 DAYS SEND ITSELF OUT TO EVERYBODY IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK AND THEN PROCEED TO DESTROY YOUR HARD DRIVE AND YOUR MODEM. AS FAR AS I KNOW THE ANTIVIRUS PROGRAMS ARE NOT EQUIPPED TO WIPE OUT THIS VIRUS YET SO PLEASE BE CAREFUL!!! ONCE AGAIN EVEN IF THE MAIL IS FROM SOMEBODY YOU KNOW DELETE IT IMMEDIATELY!!! IT WILL WIPE OUT YOUR COMPUTER!!! PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERYBODY YOU KNOW TO PREVENT THE SPREAD OF THIS.

Note: Some people are getting confused between this virus hoax and the Troj/Mine Trojan horse which is attached to an email with the subject "hey you".

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.