Please read this entire message.

On Tuesday, October 16 2001, an email virus may delete all of your computer files without any warning. Back in July 2001, a message was sent to the University community warning everyone about the SirCam virus. The SirCam virus spreads through email to computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system. It is easily identified by the text of the message it sends:

"Hi! How are you? I send you this file in order to have your advice. See you later. Thanks"

The odds of the virus deleting all of the files on your computer are small (five percent). KEEP READING please! Five percent may seem irrelevant, but there are over 15,000 computers at the University of Connecticut. The majority run the standard Microsoft Windows operating system, therefore, there is the potential that the virus could destroy data on dozens, if not hundreds, of computers if proper steps are not taken.

If you are infected with SirCam and ignore it, the virus will cause the computer system to crash and all of your data will be lost. Please take this moment to verify that you have anti-virus software running on your computer and that all the virus definitions are current. The University ITS provides - AT NO COST - anti-virus software to all UConn students, faculty, and staff. Information about how to obtain (download), install, and update the most current Norton AntiVirus software follows. The directions were improved upon since our last broadcast.

To download and install Norton AntiVirus (at no cost): go to http://www.security.uconn.edu/antivirus

To download the SirCam removal tool: go to http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.sircam.worm@mm.removal.tool.h tml

To read more about the SirCam Virus: go to http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.sircam.worm@mm.html

If you need assistance, please don't hesitate to contact the University ITS Help Desk at 860-486-4357 (HELP). If you think you have been infected with the SirCam virus, the Help Desk will assist you with downloading and running the SirCam removal tool from Symantec.

Again, with everyone's help we can make sure that this virus does not cause damage to the University. Thank you. University ITS Network Engineering / Computer and Network Security