Hoax Warnings


	Alphabetical Index

NAME:	Perrin.exe hoax
ALIAS:	Upgrade Internet2 hoax

In 2000 there appeared a hoax message about Perrin.exe file that acts as a trojan. It was reportedly spread with 'Upgrade Internet2' message. So far we don't have a single report of this executable. Thus we consider this message a hoax. The original hoax message looks like that:

 PLEASE, SEND THIS INFORMATION TO EVERY PERSON IN YOUR ADDRESS
 BOOK.

 IF YOU RECEIVE AN E-MAIL THAT READS "UPGRADE INTERNET2", DO NOT
 OPEN IT, AS IT CONTAINS AN EXECUTABLE NAMED "PERRIN.EXE."

 IT WILL ERASE ALL THE DATA IN YOUR HARD DRIVE AND WILL STAY IN
 MEMORY. EVERY TIME THAT YOU UPLOAD ANY DATA, IT WILL BE
 AUTOMATICALLY ERASED AND YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO USE YOUR
 COMPUTER AGAIN.

 THIS INFORMATION WAS PUBLISHED YESTERDAY IN THE CNN WEB SITE.
 THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS VIRUS. TO THIS DATE, THERE IS NO KNOWN
 ANTIVIRUS PROGRAM FOR THIS PARTICULAR VIRUS.

 PLEASE, FORWARD THIS INFORMATION TO YOUR FRIENDS, SO THAT THEY
 WILL BE ON THE ALERT.

Later there appeared an addition to this hoax that lists a number of executable files that can be dangerous. The list includes Happy99, Pretty Park worms and Sonic worm-backdoor filenames. Other names were not used to spread viruses, trojans, worms and backdoors so far. As the addition to the above hoax mentions real malware we can't put it on our hoax pages.

Please ignore this and alike hoaxes and don't pass them on.