By The Way...

SoBig is the biggest virus ever, a fact that I knew already, since for the last two days every other e-mail I've gotten has been from someone trying to send me a 103kb attachment (in the article linked, you'll note AOL caught 11.5 million virus-laden e-mails on Tuesday alone). At this point in human history I'm about as likely to download an attachment from some random person (or even most friends) as I am to put my hand into a bag full of wet, angry cats, but enough other people are fine with it that the whole system took a hit. The worst part, from an ego point of view, is that the virus pretends to be from an e-mail address it plucks from Web pages and address books, so your name can be on a virus message even if you're not infected. So you look bad even if you're doing everything right.

The virus comes in with a built in "expiration date" of September 10, but according to experts that's not exactly good news:

"The Sobig virus writer's use of an inbuilt expiry date indicates that he is committed to inventing new and improved versions," Mark Sunner, chief technology officer at MessageLabs, said in a statement. "Each variant released so far has exceeded the previous one in growth and impact during the critical initial window of vulnerability."

One of our own here on the AOL farm got the virus and spent the day roughing it while the tech guys cleaned her computer:

"When I got the boot my two way pager was my only form of communication."

The horror. The sheer, unadulterated, type-with-your-thumbs horror.

Share your "favorite" virus horror story: Write it up and send your link to JMSJournal (AOLers) or JMSJournal2@aol.com (everyone else). And please, no attachments.

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• #1 Comment from airassault96b 
  8/24/03 6:57 PM | Permalink

  Let's see.. the expiration date of the virus is 9/10.
  What follows 9/10?
  9/11...
  
  This ought to be interesting.