Re: (yet again) [Fwd: Virus Alert]

[Rick Macdonald <rickm@vsl.com>]

On Mon, 19 Aug 1996, Christopher R. Hertel wrote:

> : Not true. You can't get a virus from reading an email message.
> 
> Actually, that depends upon your E'mail system.  Microsoft mail allows
> you to send macros along with messages.  These macros are automatically
> run when the message is read.  I have first-hand experience with a
> "virus" (actually, a destructive macro) that was transmitted this way.
> 
> ...but that's a hole in Microsoft mail.  Obviously, this kind of thing
> could not be done via the standard Unix mail system (unless you had a
> MIME-aware mail reader that was willing to run Java code for you...
> Oooops!)

Actually...

I don't use emacs for email, but apparently its mail reader uses the emacs
"enable-local-variables" feature. And, apparently, some mischief can be
done by this mechanism. This feature is disabled with
    (setq enable-local-variables nil)
or
    (setq enable-local-variables 1) 
The later causes it to query you if local variables exist.

Perhaps someone on the list is more familiar with this issue and emacs
mail.

...RickM...