# Osama Hanged -- Virus warning

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-hanged-virus-warning/314965>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [July 31, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-hanged-virus-warning/314965 "2005-07-31T03:14:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-hanged-virus-warning/314965/1 "2005-07-31T03:14:44Z")

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[According to snopes](http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/osamahanged.asp):

> [@](#):
>
> The trick here is that readers who click on the URL provided in the message quoted above end up infecting their PCs with the Hackarmy trojan horse, which can potentially allow malicious hackers to gain remote control of those PCs.

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-hanged-virus-warning/314965/2 "2005-07-31T13:53:23Z")

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This is really old, old news. By the time such stuff gets listed on Snopes and such it’s already made all the rounds it’s going to make.

Computer security experts also strongly discourage the “warn everybody” postings and emails. They are almost always bunk and distract from real security issues.