Computer Virus Myths
* Computer Myths Home Page
www.kumite.com/myths/
An excellent starting place. A no nonsense site with lots of detailed information, and a wealth of links and essays from Rob Rosenberger. If you only bookmark one site, make it this one.
Hoaxkill
www.hoaxkill.com
Tired of receiving hoax notes from co-workers, friends and acquaintances? Forward the email to Hoaxkill and they will send an informative note to everyone on the list. And, best of all, it's free! A genuine public service. Also contains good hoax and legend info.
Korova Virus Hoax
www.korova.com/virus/hoax.htm
Lots of fun, this site offers the "Hoax du Jour". Nice breezy writing style, good for a laugh.
Urban legends
* David Emery's Urban Legends site
urbanlegends.about.com
Excellent source for urban legend busting. Formerly at Mining Co., the site has moved, but the information remains top notch. Good archive and usually up to date. Also has good virus hoax information.
* San Fernando Valley Folklore Society
www.snopes.com/
The San Fernando Valley Folklore Society's Urban Legends Reference
Pages. Classy information pages with research to debunk or confirm well known and not so well known
legends. Top notch and well researched!! Another bookmark for sure.
Alt. Urban Legends
www.urbanlegends.com
The official page of the Alt.folklore.urban newgroup. This page is quirky, to say the least. It consists of posts to the newsgroup over the years. Database contains just about every urban legend you could think of.
Corporate sites
IBM White Paper and Virus Information Pages
www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html,
www.av.ibm.com/InsideTheLab/Bookshelf/WhitePapers/Wells/HOWTOSPOT/howtospot.html
also www.av.ibm.com/current/FrontPage/
Essay on how to spot a hoax by from the IBM AntiVirus Labs, and IBM's virus info page. The Anti Virus page included hoax and hype information. And, if you want to learn the difference between Trojan horses and worms and more than you ever wanted to know about computer virus, read "Things that go bump in the
Web" at www.research.ibm.com/massive/bump.html
Computer Knowledge Virus Tutorial
www.cknow.com/cktutorials/cktutorials.htm
A free tutorial on computer virus for the non computer expert. A bit
dated, but still very informative from Computer Knowledge.
Datafellows Hoax Database
www.datafellows.com/news/hoax.htm
Excellent database of hoax information. Easy to search, and lots of detailed information.
Company specializes in security for client server environment
Dr. Solomon Info Pages
www.drsolomon.com/vircen/vanalyse/va005.html
Good essay on virus hoaxes. (Hoax list is dated.) Go to
www.drsolomon.com/vircen/vanalyse/index.cfm for several white papers on
various aspects of real virus problems. From Dr. Solomon anti virus software.
Microsoft Security Advisor Program
www.microsoft.com/security/default.asp?ID=1
Fairly current address for Microsoft's Security Advisor Program. Address changes often but
usually gives a link. Place to get the latest security patch for what ever is ailing Windows of a
security nature. Bookmark and check, they are good about fixing leaks, but it does no good if
you don't get the patch!
Network Associates Inc. (NAI) www.nai.com/default.asp
Network Associates Inc. (a.k.a. McAffee Anti Virus) Go to search and enter "virus hoax" for some interesting white papers and essays. See also
http://vil.mcafee.com/villib/alpha.asp McAfee's virus information and myth site.
Seven Locks Software
www.sevenlocks.com/VirusHelp/default.htm
A wealth of detailed information about virus - both real and hoax from Seven Locks Software. Also has an insightful essay on the whys of virus hoaxes.
Sophos www.sophos.com/virusinfo/scares/
Sophos is a British manufacturer of anti virus software for client server environment. A nice, no nonsense approach.
Stiller Research www.stiller.com
Very good site for solid virus information, as well as hoax updates. Stiller Research also sells Integrity Master Virus Protection for networks, but the sales pitch remains in the background.
Symantec (Norton AntiVirus) www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html
Norton AntiVirus - Good information plus a database of actual virus details. Recently combined with the IBM Anti Virus division to form possibly the largest commercial anti-virus database available.
Government / Organization / Education cites
* CIAC
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html
US Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability. (Otherwise known as CIAC) A real honest to goodness U.S. Government site, with solid information about hoaxes as well as actual virus info. The only government agency to issue virus warnings. They are no longer maintaining their virus files, but there is still a wealth of information.
Federal Computer Incident Response Capability www.fedcirc.gov/
Fed CIRC - Federal Computer Incident Response Capability. Good source for real alerts and information on potential problems
* CERT www.cert.org/ (Computer Emergency Response Team)
CERT is located at Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute. Site deals with Internet security issues, mostly client server based, interesting from a what really can happen stand point. A top notch volunteer aid group for data processing emergencies.
eicar www.eicar.com/anti_virus_test_file.htm
Here is a site with a test virus to check your commercial virus program. See if your program is correctly installed, or if is is really working.
ICSA www.icsa.net/services/consortia/anti-virus/alerthoax.shtml
The ICSA Labs are an independent organization that certifies vendors of anti-virus products. Good place to check your anti-virus software vendor for compliance, as well as get current virus and hoax information.
Newsletter
* Woody Leonard
www.wopr.com
If you don't already subscribe to Woody's Windows Watch and Woody's Office Watch what are you waiting for?? Go to
www.wopr.com right now and subscribe. Best source for up to date MS security problems, as well as timely information on the latest genuine virus. (Also contains a wealth of information about other things Microsoft.)
* My picks for the sites to bookmark if you don't bookmark anything else.
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