Along with the holidays comes an increase in dangerous emails containing viruses that can destroy the data on your computer or cause it to quit working until it is “cleaned.” Described below are two prevalent viruses that are taking the cheer out of the holidays for many people. (Yes, these viruses have struck many people at WVU, who have had to spend hours trying to save their data and reinstall everything on their computer).
As always, think before you click! With any email message you receive, think twice before clicking on any links that it contains, even if it appears to come from someone you know.
“Hey, I have this hilarious video of you dancing. Your face is so red. You should check it out.”
If you’ve received an email message like this through Facebook or MySpace, you may have been exposed to the “Koobface” virus. This virus is traveling through email that appears to be coming from your friends on Facebook and invites you to click on a link and see a video. If you click on this link, you are prompted to update your Flash player before the video can be displayed. Then the virus hits, wreaking havoc with your computer.
UPS has issued a warning about a new computer virus circulating as an attachment to emails that appear to come from them. The bogus emails, with titles such as “UPS Delivery Failure” or “Your Tracking #,” claim that a parcel was undeliverable due to an incorrect mailing address. You are then instructed to open an attachment containing a copy of the invoice. The attachment actually contains a virus which can infect your computer.
Source: UPS Virus Warning (About.com)
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