Re: Mac Rocks -- Again!

On Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:19:42 +0000, Danny T wrote:

O> Really? We all get hoax email warning of viruses that "wipe the
drive
clean" but you're the first person I've found who's actually known
someone it happned to! Can you get full details, please?

what I know is my dad called crying the blues that his computer would
not connect to the internet. I went over to his place and his neighbor
was there conspiering to go out and buy a new computer because his to
was down but his was completely wiped out. (what that really means, I
don't know). I called the ISP and asked if there was someway to reset
the modem and get back online, and they said there was a number I had to
call for some kind of security breach. When I called them they said that
they could not let us back online until we cleared our drive because
there was some kind of virus that propagated email with a trojan horse
and was clearing off hard drives to cover its path.... then I was asked
if I still had a working computer. I said the computer was fine and
asked what to do to clear it and they started rambling greek to me. I
said something about it being a mac and the guy said, Oh, no problem
then and started the connection again. He told me that the virus didn't
effect macs at all and that 95% of them don't. He said the modem was
shut off automatically when they cornered the email and saw that it had
been sent to my dad's computer.

The ISP disabled your father's account because he had been sent an email
containing a trojan?

In the computer industry we use the term 'lies' for these kind of
explanations.

This is the technical term for when an ISP messes up their billing system
or accidentally unplugs the modem rack, and then tries to cover their ass
by spouting bull*** to the customers.

If the existence of a certain file in an email was enough reason to stop
an account, it would be possible to shut down millions of people's
Internet connections with a single mailshot.


Other then that, I can't really tell you anything because nothing really
happened to us. I know that my dad's neighbor had to replace his hard
drive for some reason (maybe he just did it because he didn't know he
didn't have to). The man is a writer and works from home. I know the
neighbor was very unhappy with the whole thing and my dad is buying a
new mac this weekend on account of I gave my dad that computer many
years ago.

In the end, whether Win,Mac or Linux, the administrator of the computer
and local LAN is responsible for it's security.

If your father was using an open wireless network to talk to his modem,
it's quite possible that someone else, unbeknowest to him, was also using
it with an infected machine. Then the ISP could be perfectly within their
rights to stop the account.
.