Gotcha! : Virus and E-mail Hoaxes

Virus and E-mail hoaxes are a real issue in today's electronic culture. They can be classified as a form of social engineering. 'In computer security social engineering is a term that describes a non-technical kind of intrusion that relies heavily on human interaction and often involves tricking other people to break normal security procedures.'1 The existence of virus and e-mail hoaxes uses resources costs money and picks and pulls at the already frayed nerves of the often overworked understaffed information technology corps. Hoaxes are nothing new. They are created by people to trick people. They come in a myriad of formats claiming all sorts of 'good.' The only good news about them is that virus and e-mail hoaxes can be detected contained and virtually eliminated.