# Snopes Virus Error

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-virus-error/196896>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 22, 2003, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-virus-error/196896 "2003-08-22T11:49:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-virus-error/196896/1 "2003-08-22T11:49:49Z")

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I’m not sure if this is the right forum – but for those of you on the Snopes mail list, they’ve made an error tonight.

> [@](#):
>
> This week has seen a return of the Sobig virus  
> ([http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/sobig.htm](http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/sobig.htm)), a  
> worm that forges e-mail addresses of folks known to  
> the intended victims to trick them into opening  
> booby-trapped attachments that contain the  
> contamination. This week’s incursion has been a bad  
> one - few inboxes have been spared, and any of us who  
> get any amount of incoming mail at all have been  
> whacking the stuff as if we were caught in a video  
> game - delete one message, and two more arrive.
> 
> Yet despite the ferocity of viruses like Sobig, the  
> [snopes.com](http://snopes.com) weekly update list should be invulnerable  
> to them because no one can post to the list except me,  
> Barbara Mikkelson. However, this evening I made the  
> mistake of forwarding one of those loaded e-mails to  
> the list instead of routing it back to where it needed  
> to go to kill it. The error was of the human kind, not  
> the mechanical kind, so you need not fear your weekly  
> update list has a great gaping security hole in it and  
> will periodically mail you viruses. Unfortunately,  
> that this was a personal “I hit the wrong button”  
> screw-up rather than a “Something snuck in here, and  
> no one knows how” situation still means a virus-loaded  
> e-mail went to everyone. For this I am heartily,  
> deeply sorry.
> 
> Therefore, if you have yet to do so, please DO NOT  
> OPEN a message from [spoons@best.com](mailto:spoons@best.com) titled “snopes:  
> [security@microsoft.com](mailto:security@microsoft.com) post needs approval (fwd)”. If  
> you have, Trend Micro provides a system cleaner on  
> their web site which will remove Sobig.F - you’ll find  
> it at [http://www.trendmicro.com/download/tsc.asp](http://www.trendmicro.com/download/tsc.asp)
> 
> Sorry about this, folks - I hit the wrong key.
> 
> Barbara Mikkelson  
> [www.snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com)

I’ve made th’ mistake of opening the email from Barbara Mikkelson that apparently had the virus load on it. This is to warn anyone else here who’s also on the list to watch out.

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**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-virus-error/196896/2 "2003-08-22T13:11:55Z")

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I thought you were okay opening the e-mail. It’s when you click on the attachment that you’re toast.

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-virus-error/196896/3 "2003-08-22T13:19:26Z")

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I thought so too. Hopefully, because I use Hotmail and it just looked like a series of scrambled text letters in the body of the email itself, I’m okay.