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April 27, 2001

A time to lead

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I would guess that fraud has existed in society since the first caveman tried to convince someone that their new, improved rock would make their hunting safe and quick. It seems an integral part of human intelligence that we want things to be easier and cheaper so much that we are willing to believe almost anything if it is sold in the right way.

Fast forward to 2001 and the Internet. Not since the invention of the telephone have we had such an avenue to distribute fraud, hoaxes and urban legends to millions of people, all over the globe. With such a wealth of opportunities to mislead people, it is up to the technologists, you and I, to take the lead and help technology users help themselves.

The truth will set you free

First and foremost, you need to develop a collection of informational sources that allow you to quickly and clearly refute various scams, virus hoaxes and urban legends. Thankfully, the same Internet that aids in the distribution of these scams can also be used to refute them.

One of my favorite web sites is Vmyths <http://www.vmyths.com>. While the writing can have a somewhat sarcastic tone, the information is top rate. If I receive a hoax email forwarded from one of my friends or clients I can quickly search for it and return a link explaining the hoax, usually within a few minutes. Since the majority of email warnings are indeed hoaxes and not true virus warnings, this one resource can help me quell the majority of my client hoax questions.

Of course, there are real viruses out there in the wild that your clients and friends might come across. For these types of issues you can turn to the web sites of the various makers of anti-virus software. These would include Macafee <http://www.macafee.com/> and Symantec <http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html>. I recently ran into a client with the APSTrojan and was quickly able to locate information and methods of removal for this trojan horse. Since this virus tried to propagate itself to anyone listed in the users Buddy List I immediately had the user forward this information to her friends. In this way we were able to quash the infection quickly.

For those of you dealing with the maintenance and security of Internet servers, CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) <http://www.cert.org/> offers a mailing list and web site which can inform you when security and virus issues are found. These mailings are often more technical than those found at the anti-virus sites above, but they also cover such relatively esoteric problems like vulnerabilities in BIND, web server software and browsers. While not for your average user, CERT is an important resource for the more advanced technology worker seeking to protect their systems from malicious use.

A Calming Influence

As technology workers you have an important role beyond the prevention and clean-up of hoaxes, scams and viruses. Oftentimes, you must act as a calming influence on a volatile situation. Virus hoaxes can be especially damaging as users forward more and more email until the hoax itself causes more damage than any virus might. Using the informational sites above can help to quell fears quickly and gently educate the users without treating them like idiots.

Whenever a hoax begins the rounds of my clients I send out the information from Vmyths and also include a quick note explaining how they can check the veracity of an email before they forward it to everyone in their address book. Giving users the tools to combat the hoaxes themselves will make your job much easier. Enlisting the help of your users will kill off many hoaxes before they ever get started. Education is always one of the most useful tools in this fight.

When scams and virus hoaxes rear their ugly head it calls for leadership from technology workers. Do not dismiss user's fears. Rather, address and calm these fears and show your users how to research these claims for themselves. Squashing these scams quickly will allow you to get on with your work without wasting ever-growing amounts of time combating those people who would use the Internet to take advantage of others.

about this column.

Douglas E. Welch is a freelance writer and computer consultant in Van Nuys, California. Readers can discuss career issues with other readers by joining the Career Opportunities Discussion on Douglas' web page at: http://www.welchwrite.com/dewelch/ce/

He can reached via email at douglas@welchwrite.com