A malware Hoax lack the ability to reproduce by themselves and are not true viruses. They are messages whose content is not true and that encourage users to forward them to their contacts.
The objective of these fake viruses is to overload the flow of information through e-mail and networks. Those e-mails that talk about the existence of new viruses or the disappearance of a person usually belong to this type of message. Its purpose is to generate alarm and confusion among users.
Most hoaxes are very gimmicky: they seek to make an impact on the recipient and are easily identified by the fact that they indicate that the virus will do almost impossible things, such as starting a fire or blowing up equipment; or very serious events, such as deleting everything on the user’s computer.
They often include fake advertisements that purportedly come from computer organizations, or fake news that appears to have been written by legitimate media. Hoaxes are usually harmless and the damage caused does not usually go beyond a slight loss of time for those who are not able to identify the hoax and waste time forwarding the message.
However, hoaxes have occasionally appeared that have manipulated users into believing that vital system files were actually viruses, and encouraged them to delete them, causing permanent damage to the system. In addition, there are some secondary damages such as loss of productivity, loss of credibility, saturation of local networks and messages.
It is also important to distinguish hoaxes from computer pranks or jokes; which are harmless programs that perform unwanted and annoying actions on a computer, such as randomly moving the mouse, turning the screen upside down, etc.
If you receive a hoax, it is advisable to ignore its instructions and delete it immediately, without forwarding it to anyone to avoid its expansion.
The easiest way to recognize these malicious files would be:
▸Most of these are anonymous and unsigned to avoid legal repercussions.
▸The Hoaxes have no publication date and are worded in the most timeless way possible.
▸Hoaxes usually contain a forwarding request and this means that forwarding is requested to alert other people, to avoid bad luck, to avoid death, to raise awareness or for any other reason as a way to deceive more users.
▸Hoaxes are generally written in the international standard language.
