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Symantec Security Response encourages you to ignore any messages regarding this hoax. It is harmless and is intended only to cause unwarranted concern.

Type: Hoax


Description:

The following hoax email was first reported in Brazil, and the original email was in Portuguese. Other language versions are in circulation. Currently, the English language versions are most common.


CAUTIONS:

This particular email message is a hoax. The file that is mentioned in the hoax, however, Sulfnbk.exe, is a Microsoft Windows utility that is used to restore long file names, and like any .exe file, it can be infected by a virus that targets .exe files.

The virus/worm W32.Magistr.24876@mm can arrive as an attachment named Sulfnbk.exe.
The Sulfnbk.exe file used by Windows is located in the C:\Windows\Command folder. If the file is located in any other folder, or arrives as an attachment to a email message, then it is possible that the file is infected. In this case, if a scan with the latest virus definitions and with NAV set to scan all files does not detect the file as being infected, quarantine and submit the file to SARC for analysis by following the instructions in the document How to submit a file to SARC using Scan and Deliver.

If you have deleted the Sulfnbk.exe file from the C:\Windows\Command folder and want to know how to restore the file, see the How to restore the Sulfnbk.exe file section at the end of this document.

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!0000 Trick

Trick or Treat?

"Here's a little trick you can use to stop the spread of pc viruses" - Not! The misguided email outlines an alleged trick to prevent mass-mailing email worms from sending from your computer. This seemingly easy tip involves adding the bogus contact "!0000" to the Windows Address Book. The premise is that when the virus tries to send itself out to everyone in the address book, the mail client will falter on the bogus address and the attempt to send will fail. Of course, this assumes the virus intends to do a "send all" from the mail client in the first place. Most of the modern day viruses prefer to randomly select individual addresses or supplement the addresses with those found cached on the system. In fact, most of the new viruses bypass the mail client altogether and use their own SMTP engine to send their viral email. In other words, the tip will only be effective in limited cases. What the tip can do effectively is lead to a false sense of security, and that can sometimes be worse than doing nothing at all.

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