Life is beautiful virus hoax

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For other uses, see Life is Beautiful (disambiguation).

The Life is Beautiful virus hoax is an e-mail hoax which began circulating on the Internet around January 2002. The e-mail details a virus contained in a Microsoft PowerPoint attachment which is supposedly called Life is beautiful.pps. To date, no such virus has been found and the e-mail is widely considered a hoax.

The e-mail claims to be based upon information from Microsoft and Norton. Symantec, the makers of Norton AntiVirus have issued an advisory stating that the e-mail is a hoax.[1]

The hoax e-mail continues by saying that the virus was made by a person who is suing Microsoft in court for patent infringement.

[edit] Sample E-Mail

This is a sample of the English version of the hoax.

URGENT! VIRUS!

This information arrived this morning, from Microsoft and Norton.

Please send it to everybody you know who accesses the Internet.

You may receive an apparently harmless email with a PowerPoint presentation called "Life is beautiful.pps."

If you receive it DO NOT OPEN THE FILE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, and delete it immediately.

If you open this file, a message will appear on your screen saying: "It is too late now, your life is no longer beautiful", subsequently you will LOSE EVERYTHING IN YOUR PC and the person who sent it to you will gain access to your name, email and password.

This is a new virus which started to circulate on Saturday afternoon. WE NEED TO DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO STOP THIS VIRUS.

AOL has already confirmed it's dangerous, and the antivirus softwares are not capable of destroying it.

The virus has been created by a hacker who calls himself "life owner", and who aims to destroy domestic PCs and who also fights Microsoft in court!

That’s why it comes disguised with extension pps. He fights in court for the Windows-XP patent.

MAKE A COPY OF THIS EMAIL TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Koris, George (2002-01-15). Life is beautiful Hoax (HTML). Symantec.com. Symantec. Retrieved on 2007-11-04.
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