Users panic over mobile phone wars.A marketing campaign to promote the latest version of the Resident Evil video game has backfired, as mobile phone users believe they have been infected by a virus. Sophos has received enquiries from users who have received unsolicited SMS (1) (Storage Management System) Software used to routinely back up and archive files. See HSM. (2) (Systems Management Server) Systems management software from Microsoft that runs on Windows NT Server. text messages on their mobile phones telling them they are infected by the so-called T-Virus. Sophos's has discovered that the messages are being sent from a website designed to promote the game Resident Evil: Outbreak, in which players defend themselves against zombies Zombies Companies that continue to operate even though they are insolvent. Also known as living dead. Notes: It's advisable to avoid investing in zombies at all costs their life expectancies are highly unpredictable. by blowing their heads off with a shotgun. The website allows unsolicited text messages to be sent to mobile phones claiming that the phone is infected, without the permission of the phone's owner. A typical message reads as follows: Outbreak: I'm infecting you with t-virus, my code is ******. Forward this to 60022 to get your own code and chance to win prizes. More at t-virus.co.uk Comment: The messages themselves are not infectious, but some people have panicked that they might have received a real mobile phone virus See smartphone virus. , 'This marketing campaign seems particularly ill-conceived, as there is so much genuine interest in the mobile virus threat at present. We had to come clean about the T-VIRUS eventually,' commented Ben Le Rougetel, Senior PR Manager and Chief Virologist virologist microbiologist specializing in virology. CE Europe. 'The T-VIRUS was originally designed to promote the release of Resident Evil: Outbreak for PS2, but it's spread much quicker than we originally anticipated. It's now totally out of control and we're not totally sure how to stop it. CE Europe's announcement implies that the messages have stopped being a marketing device, and have become a real virus. The truth is that viral marketing An online advertising approach that functions somewhat like word-of-mouth. The "viral" refers to how quickly it propagates, but its purpose is not to cause damage like a computer virus, but to make an offer available to the masses. campaigns like this generate work for IT departments and anti-virus support desks as we have to reassure users that it is not a genuine infection, say Sophos This is not the first time a virus hoax A computer virus hoax is a false email message warning the recipient of a virus that is going around. The message usually serves as a chain e-mail that tells the recipient to forward it to everyone they know. has been started to promote a product. In 1996, Penguin Books started the Irina hoax Hoax Balloon Hoax, The news story in 1844, reporting the transatlantic crossing of a balloon with eight passengers. [Am. Lit.: The Balloon Hoax in Poe] Piltdown man missing link turned out to be orangutan. [Br. Hist. in an attempt to promote a new book. That hoax continued to spread. www.sophos.com |
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