[66861] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: in case nobody else noticed it, there was a mail worm
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (jon bennett)
Wed Jan 28 11:38:00 2004
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 11:26:30 -0800
To: Scott Francis <darkuncle@darkuncle.net>,
Mike Tancsa <mike@sentex.net>
From: jon bennett <jcrb@yahoo.com>
Cc: nanog@merit.edu
In-Reply-To: <20040128151706.GI12630@darkuncle.net>
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
At 07:17 AM 1/28/2004 -0800, Scott Francis wrote:
>I've been wondering lately, after about 10 years of email worms spreading=
in
>exactly the same manner with every incarnation ... why do you think people
>haven't learned not to open unexpected attachments yet? It would seem to me
>that even the most clueless user would modify his/her behavior after, say,
>the 25th time they've been infected and had to 1) call tech support or 2)
>reinstall their OS (or more likely, have someone else reinstall their OS).
Several reasons,
1) in each of those 10 years there is one more years worth of human beings=
=20
for whom this is their first email virus and they have no idea what it is=20
they are clicking on.
2) some people's job legitimately involves getting lots of mail attachment=
=20
and just as people reflexively click on the "Are you sure you want to do=20
X? Yes, No" messages, these people reflexively open every attachment they=
get.
3) some people believe everything they read and will always fall for the=20
"here is the response you requested" line du jour, just like there are=20
people who believe that Elvis isn't dead but is living in an East Texas=20
rest home (see www.bubbahotep.com :-)
4) some people never learn :-(
face it, the following quote has always been true and will always be true
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build=20
bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce=
=20
bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."
=AD Rich Cook.
jon bennett
