‘Deeyenda’ e-mail virus proves to be an empty threat

Thursday, January 23, 1997

TECHNOLOGY:

E-mail viruses pose fraudulent danger to computer usersBy Jean
May Chen

Daily Bruin Contributor

It could erase your hard drive, wiping out that research paper
you never backed up. It could ruin your online social life, cutting
you off from all of your Internet buddies. Or, if the object in
question is the e-mail virus "Deeyenda," it could just be a cruel
joke.

The Internet is no stranger to hoaxes. Complicated technical
jargon and judicious name-dropping are often used to obscure the
truth from new and inexperienced Internet and computer users.

Warnings are currently being circulated via e-mail of a virus
named "Deeyenda." The warning is vague, saying that Deeyenda is
"being spread throughout the Internet, including Usenet posting
(sic), e-mail and other Internet activities …"

The warning continues, "If you receive an e-mail message with
the subject line ‘Deeyenda,’ do not read the message, delete it
immediately."

At first glance, it seems that merely reading a message such as
Deeyenda may cause harm to computers. Deeyenda specifically
threatens to completely erase users’ hard drives. However, the
United States Department of Energy insists that this is
impossible.

According to an online guide to virus hoaxes compiled by the
department’s Computer Incident Advisory Capability (CIAC), a
computer virus, which is really a program whose activities are
intended to cause harm to computers, must be executed before it can
spread. Merely looking at the program without running it, or
reading an e-mail message, will not activate the malicious
code.

"You can get viruses from attachments (to e-mail)," but not from
e-mail itself, confirmed Jill Fox, Supervisor for the Technical
Support Group of Bruin OnLine. She added that computer viruses are
not a major concern among UCLA students.

"We get a few calls about hoax viruses, but not too many," she
said.

This may not hold true for long, since the Deeyenda hoax is
beginning to infiltrate UCLA by way of well-meaning members of the
general Internet community. One e-mail received at the Daily Bruin
offices shows that it was forwarded from members of large Internet
service providers, such as America Online and Prodigy.

If the hoax is allowed to spread through such large
communications channels, it could become a nuisance on the scale of
the "Good Times" e-mail virus hoax from a few years ago.

The Good Times hoax virus warning claimed that the virus could
be caught just by reading e-mail. To many new and inexperienced
users, it seemed to be a plausible and immediate threat to users’
e-mail accounts, which are arguably the most popular feature of the
Internet. Belief in the hoax resulted in a flood of Usenet postings
about the nonexistent virus and calls to the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) and CIAC.

CIAC recommends a few points to use in determining whether or
not a virus warning is a hoax. First, hoaxes often use technical
jargon to make empty threats. The Good Times hoax said, "If the
program is not stopped, the computer’s processor will be placed in
an n-th complexity infinite binary loop which can severely damage
the processor …" In actuality, there is no such thing as an n-th
complexity infinite binary loop.

CIAC also warns that hoaxes often gain credibility by
association with reputable people or groups. Even if a virus
warning shows that it has been forwarded to hundreds of people,
many at prestigious institutions, this does not mean that it is
true.

The Deeyenda warning claims to quote an FCC statement, but in
fact the FCC does not and never will

release warnings regarding computer viruses. CIAC recommends
that

users confirm virus warnings before passing them on. Also,
e-mailing

the supposed originator of the

warning can help to determine authenticity.

"Virus hoaxes can really turn people off computing," says Kelly
Stack, Senior Technical Analyst at the Office of Academic Computing
Microcomputer Support Office. "They think there are more viruses
(out there) than there really are."

"The problem is that people just keep sending (the hoax
warnings). They think they’re doing a good thing," she said.

Stack added that hoax warnings can distract from warnings about
real computer viruses such as "Michelangelo," which was involved in
a rash of infections several years ago.

As with biological viruses, the best form of protection against
computer viruses is vigilance. Many virus scanning programs exist,
and it is recommended that computer users run a virus scan
regularly.

"We’re planning to include virus detection software in the next
version of Bruin OnLine," Stack said.

For now, virus scanners can be downloaded from Bruin OnLine’s
home page at www.ucla.edu/bruinonline. These programs are
shareware, which means that users can obtain them for free, and pay
a registration fee (usually about $30) if they decide to keep using
them.

The CIAC hoax advisory can be found at
ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html.