Subject line observation

[root () RGFSPARC CR USGS GOV (Robert G. Ferrell)]

Noticing the flurry of rejected messages I got back associated with the ILOVEYOU
virus message post that I made 6 hours ago, it occurs to me that a very
effective, if short-lived, DoS could be constructed by writing a similar virus
and sending it out with very common words in the subject line, like "Security"
or "Alert" or "Windows" or "Issues" or "Buffer" or a host of others.  If, for
example, people started filtering out all messages with the word "Security" in
them because of a virus, that would bring several of the mailing lists I'm on
almost to a halt.  If the virus had a small database of those words and was
self-modifying to choose one at random when it duplicated....

Just a few (possibly incoherent) thoughts.

Cheers,

RGF

Robert G. Ferrell, CISSP
Information Systems Security Officer
National Business Center, US DoI
Robert_G_Ferrell () nbc gov
------------------------------------------------------------
Nothing I have ever said should be construed as even vaguely
representing an official statement by the NBC or DoI.
------------------------------------------------------------