[or-roots] klez virus

[Leslie Chapman]

this one is particularly insidious, it looks to me to be the explanation for
the rash of "why am I getting all these emails?" we went through a while
back;

Les C


this is on a Lycos web site "wired something or other"

Recipients of the virus-laden e-mails, not understanding that the "From"
information is virtually always phony -- or even that they have received a
virus -- have been clogging networks with angry and confused e-mails that
are causing a great deal of cyber-havoc.


People signing up for newsletters and mailing lists that they never
subscribed to has been a major source of frustration for both users and the
list owners.

If Klez happens to send an e-mail "from" a user to an e-mail list's
automatic subscribe address, the list software assumes the e-mail is a valid
subscription request and begins sending mail to the user.

A mailing list for fans of the Grammy Award-winning Steely Dan band has
posted an explanation directed to those who were subscribed to the list by
the virus.

"We are not infected with the Klez virus. We don't know if you are infected
with the Klez virus. You may be. But even if you are not, someone out there
who is infected has both your address and our address on their computer ...
and therein lies the problem," the explanation reads, in part.

Even when users understand the source of newsletter-generated e-mails, the
amount of mail some lists generate is causing problems.