Yesterday, I received a message from webshield on a server at the University of Toledo to say that it had intercepted a message, purporting to come from me, containing an attachment infected with the W32/Sobig.f@MM virus. I have no idea how many other people around the world received a similar message. It did NOT come from me, but rather from someone out there who had (a) my email address on file and (b) a computer infected with the virus. Here's how it works, as explained to me last evening by my son the computer whiz: The virus is contained in an attachment, which arrives with a message which seems to come from someone you may know. If you open the attachment, the virus activates. It searches your pc for email addresses. It picks one of these at random to be the "sender" and then sends a message with an infected attachment to every other address it finds. Ingenious, isn't it? The infected message can come from someone you know - but it really doesn't.The virus is assisted by the way Microsoft Outlook Express can keep automatically adding addresses to your address book, which lets it propagate faster. What is equally interesting is that the virus is one of the few that is polymorphic. It mutates, to try to make detection difficult. Fortunately, Norton (and, I am sure, McAffee) have been able to keep up with it. For more information, go to: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/ Please keep your virus detection software up to date, use it, and don't open unexpected attachments, even if it's from an address you may recognize. Harry -- Harry Needham, Principal ([log in to unmask]) Harry Needham Consulting Services Inc. Solutions for Heritage Institutions - and Others! 74 Abbeyhill Drive Kanata ON K2L 1H1 Canada (Voice) +1.613.831-1068 (Fax) +1.613.831-9412 ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).