[clue-talk] MS Anti-Spyware Tool Warning (Joke)

[Charles Oriez]

At 08:16 PM 1/21/2005, you wrote:
>I think there would be some interesting research prospects for 
>sociologists (or whoever) on the credulity of people when it comes to the 
>things they read at their computer.


There is an outfit called watchguard.com that will let you set up a fake 
virus and send it to everyone in some set of addresses, such as address 
book.  If they click on the fake virus, they're pointed to a page politely 
chiding them about opening an attachment from an unknown person and the 
risks involved therein (you're expected to use a fake address), and then 
giving you a report showing how many of your friends, users, whatever were 
gullible enough to fall for the virus.

I'm not sure whether you get to find out exactly who bit, so you can call 
and scream at them, or you just get a percentage count showing how many of 
your friends are gullible.

no charge for the service. I have to wonder if it is a ploy for obtaining 
addresses.  I had a hard time making it work because it assumed MS Outlook 
as your mail client and it was somewhat hard to properly configure on real 
mail clients.  I set up an account for myself but so far only sent it to 
one test address to see what it looks like.


-- 
coriez at oriez.org      39 34' 34.4"N / 105 00' 06.3"W       AIM handle caoriez
"Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial" -- seen 
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