On this page, I'm not going to provide any information on specific hoaxes or viruses. Instead, I'm going to try to instill some common sense, so that you can handle such situations responsibly.

What makes internet hoaxes successful?

There are three key factors that contribute to the success of virus hoaxes.

1. Ignorance: If you receive a warning hoax, and you know for a fact that it is not true, then the hoax is dead.

2. Compassion: When most of us hear these stories, we immediately feel the need to share this information with our colleagues and loved ones so that we can protect them. Or if it's a plea for help, we genuinely want to help, especially if all it requires is sending e-mail to all your friends. Also, some of us just want to show off to the people we work with by being the first one to warn the rest of the office about a virus. Whatever the reason, we do have the urge to share such information with others.

3. E-mail Efficiency: If such warnings could not be spread to a lot of people, in a short period of time, they would not work. Imagine what it would take to write a virus warning letter, make 100 photocopies, address 100 envelopes, put postage on them all, and then put them all in a mailbox. Not only would most of us not have the time to do that every time we hear about a virus, many of us would not be willing to pay the postage. But sending an e-mail to 100 friends and colleagues is not only easy to do, it's virutally free and it only takes a few seconds.

So, what should you do if you get a virus warning or a plea for help or some message asking you to send an e-mail to all your friends?

The first thing to do is DON'T FORWARD IT TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW! Doing this will simply annoy the recipients. Now, we do need to realize that such a warning may indeed be valid (though it probably is not). All I'm saying is that you should do some simple homework first, before acting.

To make sure that you're not contributing to the spread of a hoax, simply address the three issues I explained above. As I have suggested, if all three are not present, then hoaxes cannot spread. If you are compassionate as explained in #2, then you probably won't be able to change that. And e-mail will always be fast and simple, so it's useless to try to change #3. So let's just address #1 above: ignorance.

Squash your ignorance by arming yourself with proper information, from credible sources. The good thing is that this is very easy to do, since the credible sources have web sites. Symantec and McAfee are good, reputable companies that you can trust. I have listed some helpful web sites below. But the bottom line here is this: in order to be informed instead of ignorant, you need to decide who to believe. Should you believe the person who e-mailed a virus warning to several dozen people, including you? Should you trust companies like Symantec and McAfee? Should you even believe anything you've read here on this web page? It's up to you.

Once you're comfortable with your knowledge on the matter, then decide if you want to spread the word to everyone in your address book. (Just a personal note. Exclude me from such mailings, even if you know for a fact that a virus warning is true. I already have all the virus info I need.)

So where can you get more info?

Here are Symantec's and McAfee's pages that specifically address viruses:

• Symantec Antivirus Research Center (SARC)
• McAfee Virus Information Library (VIL)

Here are Symantec's and McAfee's pages that specifically address hoaxes:

• Symantec Security Response - Hoaxes
• McAfee.com - Virus Hoaxes

Here are some more web sites about viruses:

• CERT® Coordination Center (Computer Emergency Response Team)
• Computer Incident Advistory Capability (U.S. Dept of Energy)

Here are some more web sites about hoaxes:

• CIAC Internet Hoaxes
• Computer Virus Myths
• Urban Legends and Folklore
• Virus Hoax Busters Mailing List