There is an email in circulation with the subject line “Important” which warns not to open the attachment called “Invitation”. It was received by the multiple state agencies and employees.

THIS EMAIL IS A HOAX.

Employees are urged not to pass on warnings of this kind, as the continued re-forwarding of these hoaxes simply wastes time and email bandwidth.

It is possible that you may receive a hoax via email with a file attached. Obviously, such file attachments should be treated with caution as they may be virus infected. DOIT Information Security Office recommends deleting virus hoax emails, whether they contain file attachments or not.

This hoax has been distributed across the internet. The report is untrue, and the email can be safely deleted.

The text of the hoax reads as follows:

You should be alert during the next days:
Do not open any message with an attached filed called "Invitation" regardless of who sent it .

It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which "burns" the whole hard disc C of your computer. This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list, that is why you should send this e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.

If you receive a mail called "invitation", though sent by a friend, do not open it and shut down your computer immediately.

This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.

This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus.

This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.