Every day someone sends an old virus hoax out to a whole bunch of their friends, and every day a bunch of these people delete perfectly good files from their computers and send out the same email hoax to all of their friends, many of whom turn around and do the same thing. It builds and cascades into an avalanche of mindless, and pointless, deletions.

The body of these emails is boilerplate: it usually contains an apology for sending on the virus, and instructions for removing some supposedly horrible file from your Windows operating system. In every case, these hoaxes have urged removal of a regular file that is part of the Windows operating system. There are dozens of these virus hoaxes well-documented (check http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html) but they just don't seem to go away.

Here is a very popular one that is currently enjoying a resurgence. It has actually been around for several years. The file it refers to is a regular, normal, harmless and maybe even useful Windows file. I found this email just this morning, quarantined by the WisconsinUMC.org email server (I have made a decision to trap these kinds of hoaxes as best I can and not let them through to WisconsinUMC.org email addresses. I have played with some of the words so this message actually makes it through our filters).

DO NOT DO THIS, what follows is an example only:

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So sorry - I received the following message from a friend. When I checked my computer, I also found the virus. — you should check. It only takes a few minutes.

"A virus has been passed to me through a contact's address book. My address book was infected. Since you are in my address book, you will probably find it in your computer, too.

The virus (called jdbgmgr.exe) is not detected by Norton, or McAfee Anti-Virus systems, or PC-illin anti-virus. The virus sits quietly for 14 days before damaging the system. It is sent automatically by "messenger" and by address book, whether or not you sent e-mail to your contacts. Here is how to check for the virus and get rid of it. It only takes a few minutes.

1. Go to start, then click your "Find" or "Search" option.
2. In the folder option, type the name: jdbgmgr.exe.
3. Be sure to search your C Drive and all teh sub folders and other drives you may have.
4. Click "find now"
5. The virus has a teddybear icon with the name jdbgmgr.exe. DO NTO OPEN IT!!!
6. Go to "edit" on the menu bar, and choose "select all" to highlight the file without opening it.
7. Now go to "file" on the menu bar and select "delete." It will then go to the Recycle Bin. If you find the virus, you must contact all the people in your address book so that they may eradicate the virus from their own address books.

To do this:
1. Open a new email message
2. Click the Address Book icon.
3. Highlight every name
4. Copy this message and paste into the email.

Sorry again.

###

DO NOT DO THIS, the above is an example only.

Why do normally intelligent people forward these things?

Many decades ago Stanley Milgram, a social psychologist, did a research project on "obedience" in which subjects were asked to apply high-voltage shocks to other "subjects" whom they could see behind a two-way mirror. The "subjects" of the shocks were actually actors, and no voltage was ever applied. Milgram posed as the researcher, the authority figure, and instructed the real subjects to administer higher and higher voltage shocks, after which the actor "subjects" would writhe and scream and eventually pass out. Even when the big "voltage dial" was well above what would have been a lethal dose, almost all of the subjects, even though visibly distressed, continued to do as they were told and administered the shocks, even when the "researcher" (Milgram) had to holler at them to press the button. Milgram's work was inspired by reports of all those normal, good people with spouses and families and kids and pets who worked the crematories in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. What he found was a remarkable willingness of good people to do horrible (or incredibly stupid) things just because someone in authority told them to do it. When asked later why they continued to "administer the shocks" even when they were quite sure it was lethal, even when everything in them told them not to do it, the subjects responded by saying they were afraid not to, or that they thought they must be wrong because the researcher seemed so authoritative. Some of them felt as though they were not really responsible for the lethal doses of electricity, they were just doing what they were told.

Milgram's research is very disturbing, but I believe it sheds some light on why we continue to forward hoaxes about computer viruses. It says something about the information we find on the internet, or in email, that seems to carry it's own authority (as in, "I found it on the internet so it must be true").

We have become so afraid of computer viruses (for good reason, they can be very destructive of data on our workstations and across entire computer networks) that we are too willing to give up on common sense whenever an authoritative-sounding email message comes our way telling us we have just been "infected." We respond with a mild version of what Milgram's subjects did…we acquiesce our good sense to apparent authority.

Whenever you receive an alarming email of the sort in the example above, do everyone a favor: keep your brain engaged. Do not forward the note. Think of Stanley Milgram and all those hapless subjects who thought they were administering high-voltage shocks to the people behind the mirror. Go to one of the legitimate, non-alarmist anti-virus websites like:

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html

and look up the supposed virus. It will most surely be a hoax. If you don't want to do that much work, you can always send an email to me and ask, and I'll do the research for you. One of the tip-offs is the boiler-plate nature of the email. They all sound vaguely familiar.

And if you need a theological grounding for this anti-virus-hoax work, think only of the many places in Scripture that deal with false prophets. Most pertinent, however, may be Psalm 50:9 (from the original Revised Standard Version), where it says "I will accept no bull from your house."

If you ever have questions about something you're not sure about, or have other suggestions for "Common Sense 101" topics, call or send email to me at the Conference Communications and Technical Services Office, akahl@WisconsinUMC.org toll-free number 1.800.240.7328.