The Sector Zero/Virtual Card For You "Virus" Email Warning Is A Hoax

Last significant update: 24 February 2001

This information can be freely reproduced in any medium, as long as the information is unmodified.

Thanks to Lyndunham@aol.com for first bringing this hoax to our attention on 7 January, 2001.

Another stupid scare-type hoax. Note that there are plenty of appeals to supposed authority, but nothing solid: no exact URLs; no dates; no contact points. Typical boring hoax fare. Here is the text and commentary on it:

Subject: A new virus has just been discovered that 
has been classified by Microsoft ( www.microsoft.com) 

As if Microsoft were qualified to make such classifications

 
and by McAfee (www.mcafee.com) as the most destructive ever!  
This virus was discovered yesterday afternoon by McAfee and no 
vaccine has yet been developed.

Would any antivirus company warn about a threat if they didn't have a cure? Not too likely; the marketroids would never hear of it.

Also, note the indefinite time "yesterday": this is an attempt to keep the hoax alive. After all, if it said "1 January 2001" and you saw it today, you;d say "Hmmm; I never heard about that back then; this must be a hoax." And you'd be absolutely correct.

This virus simply destroys Sector Zero from the hard disk,

Software cannot "destroy" anything -- though it can delete data, of course. Moreover, if "Sector Zero" were overwritten, a good data recovery expert could get back all the data, in most cases.

where vital information for its functioning are stored.

The one crumb of truth to try to sell the hoax... it is true that the DOS Boot Record, which lives in logical sector 0, does have important information.

This virus acts in the following manner: 
It sends itself automatically to all contacts on your 
list with the title "A Virtual Card for You". As soon 
as the supposed virtual card is opened, the computer 
freezes so that the user has to reboot. When the 
ctrl+alt+del keys or the reset button are pressed, the 
virus destroys Sector Zero, thus permanently 
destroying the hard disk. 

The only way to "permanently destroy the hard disk" is to do physical damage to it. Melt it, zap it with a magnet or too much electricity, thwack it with a hammer....

All this is moot, of course, since no such malware exists.

Yesterday in just a few hours this virus caused panic in 
New York, according to news broadcast by CNN (www.cnn.com). 

Ho hum. I love it when hoaxters debunk their own work by pointing to web sites that do not confirm their claims.... See for yourself by searching for "Virtual card" on CNN's web site (leaving our site).

I'll wait.

So, find anything?

No? Astonishing!

I could rest my case now, but let's soldier on:

This alert was received by an employee of Microsoft itself.

... and everyone else in the world, it seems. ;-) [We've seen copies of this that have been forwarded many many times.]

So don't open any mails with subject "A Virtual Card for 
You". As soon as you get the mail, delete it. 

Instead, it would be a lot more helpful to say:

1. NEVER ACCEPT UNSOLICITED ATTACHMENTS -- not even from those you know and trust.

2. Get top quality antivirus software, install it, and USE it.

3. Keep said software updated, preferably at least once a week.

4. Avoid crappy emailers that allow active content, like the Microsoft Outlook variants. Otherwise, you WILL get bitten by junk like this.

Please pass on this mail to all your friends. 

The killing blow: EVERY time it says this, it is unworthy of the request. Period.

Please do not forward this -- or any other hoax -- to all your friends.

Instead, you should reply to the sender -- and as far back up the email chain as you have energy -- informing the originators that this is a hoax. For this particular hoax, I suggest that you provide a pointer to this URL (http://www.umich.edu/~virus-busters/hoaxes/virtual.html)

If you'd like an alternate opinion, see e.g., Martin Overton's Hoax FAQ (leaving our site) on this particular piece of silliness.

For virus or hoax info, please see our main page (http://www.umich.edu/~virus-busters/) or go to another reputable site, like The Urban Legends Reference Pages (leaving our site).

   -BPB

visits to this page since 24 February 2001 15:37 EST