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May 4, 2000 To: The Campus Community From: CATS Re: "Love Letter Virus" A new email "virus" being called the "Love Letter" virus has been circulating rapidly around the world. We have seen this virus on campus. On a Windows machine, this program will destroy and infect various files on that computer. Damage to your local computer will happen if you open the *attachment* that comes in email. It does not appear to affect Macintosh systems at this time. Outlook users are particularly vulnerable in that the virus will utilize automated features of Outlook to further spread itself. If the machine has Microsoft Outlook installed, the program will send a copy of itself in an email message to anyone and everyone in the Microsoft Outlook address book. This virus reinforces a basic anti-viral approach of: *Do not open any unfamiliar email attachment* Additionally, it is recommended that you generally protect your system with anti-viral software. The campus has purchased a site-license for Network Associates' virus protection software, which is available for current student, faculty and staff use on both University and personally owned machines. You can find this software at http://www2.ucsc.edu/cats/sc/software/virus/ For those who have already installed VirusScan, you may download the latest update from this site (we have posted it here because it's been difficult to get to it on NAI's site). 1. Save the update "May 2000 VirusScan Update" as a file (Right-click the link and Save Link As...). 2. Place it in your VirusScan directory (usually in Program Files). 3. Reboot your computer. 4. Run VirusScan. If the virus is present the scanner should inform you of its presence and eliminate it. If you have opened the attachment, you may still have lingering system problems and you should contact your computing coordinator. Please continue reading for more detailed information on protecting yourself from Trojan Horses. HOW DO YOU PROTECT YOURSELF AGAINST TROJAN HORSES? BE VIGILANT: The primary method of protecting yourself against Trojan horse "viruses" is not to execute them at all. Unfortunately, Trojan horse viruses can be included in almost any email attachment -- including Word and Excel files -- so you should be suspicious of any attachment you receive via email. Even if you know the person who sent it to you, verify that they sent it and verify the source of the attachment. Note also that some Trojan horse programs play animations or provide other amusement (in addition to their harmful actions) to encourage people to "share" them with their friends. INSTALL AND MAINTAIN VIRUS PROTECTION: Having virus protection software installed on your machine is an important part of maintaining a safe working environment. The campus has purchased a site-license for Network Associates' virus protection software, which is available for current student, faculty and staff use on both University and personally owned machines. You can find this software at http://www2.ucsc.edu/cats/sc/software/virus/ Note that while important, installing virus protection software alone is not enough to safeguard your computer. You must also keep the software up to date by upgrading the list of viruses it knows about. It is possible to automate this update. Information about keeping your virus software up to date is also available at the above web page. Even if you keep your virus software up to date, viruses are created faster than anti-virus software can keep up, so it is important to be vigilant about what programs and attachments you choose to use on your computer.
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