Fighting malware and spam

Hoax

Fake malware warning email

A virus hoax is a form of chain letter, warning recipients of a non-existent or highly exaggerated virus threat and encouraging them to pass on the warning to others.

The malware in question is often described as highly infectious and very destructive, and the warning may claim authority from Microsoft or a major security firm. Occasionally a genuine virus name is used, sometimes even one which is spreading at the time. However, the request to forward the message widely only results in unfounded panic and a waste of time and bandwidth. In other instances, such as the sulfnbk.exe hoax, the message takes advantage of many users' ignorance and intimates that a genuine Windows system file (in this case sulfnbk.exe) is malicious and should be removed, also providing instructions on how to remove the file from the system. Victims following the instructions later find that they have removed a genuine Windows system file from their machines. VB maintains a list of common virus hoaxes.

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