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Many of our members have been hit (along with the rest of the
World Wide Web) with the annoying and damaging W32Klez virus. It did
not come from our message boards as some have suggested. We have
scanned, and continue to scan, the message board server and it has not been infected. The Klez virus propagates by
email, using the victims address book, it
only runs in a "Windows" environment. Our message board server is
running on a Linux platform and thus not vulnerable to the virus.
While the server is not a
factor in propagating the
virus, we have made the following changes.
First, we removed the email
field from the "Search for Members" Page. This is to reduce the
chance
of someone going there to grab email addresses to SPAM our members
or use the addresses to launch a virus attack, Email addresses are
still
available through the Vortex
Search or (Mutual
Aid Network) (or from your State Rep); however, your membership
ID number and password
are required in order to retrieve this information. You will have to
"select" to be in the VORTEX
or (Mutual Aid
Network) when you join, or modify
your information to have your member information posted there.
Second, we have removed the "The Message Board maintained by"
email address from the message boards. It will be replaced with a
link to a Feedback Form. This
form will allow users to send the webmaster feedback about the
boards without
having the email address published on the board itself.
Third, we have temporarily suspended the digests from being sent
out from the message boards. While we do not believe that the server
itself is propagating the virus, we have removed that possibility by
removing the "Subscribe" feature of this board. This may be an
inconvenience for some of you but this step had to be done to assure
a safe environment for you all to enjoy.
VRCC computers have been bombarded with this virus, and shut down
on more than one occasion. We had the latest version of McAfee, and it
said our systems were clean. We reviewed this with our
technical support staff who
are very sharp and they recommended Norton System
Works 2002. We found 14 viruses that McAfee and another program didn't find,
and highly
recommend this program.
Whatever anti-virus program you use,
it is worthless if you don't update it frequently.
I would also recommend that you remove your email address from
your profile when you post. That will make it that much harder for
those who would like to disrupt our little community to do so.
Another thing you can do is clean up your address book. If you have
a name in there that you really don't use, delete it from the book.
I have done that with mine.
NEVER OPEN AN ATTACHMENT THAT HAS NOT BEEN SCANNED BY A VIRUS
SOFTWARE FIRST!
Even then you can get an virus, but it reduces
your exposure. If you are going to send an attachment, send a
email out first telling the person you are doing so.
Make no mistake, this is a from of terrorist attack. We must do
all we can to prevent this from affecting our daily life. Make
them work for it if they are going to attack us. Sorry for the long
post, but this is a sign of the times we live in.
Need More Help - Go
Here for some helpful Links
VRCC Support Staff |
