On Mon, 5 Dec 1994 11:11:36 -0500 Joan Korenman <KORENMAN@UMBC> wrote:
> I've always been told that viruses are not transmitted via E-mail messages,
> but rather through executable files that one downloads via FTP,
> or transfers from a floppy disk.  Is that incorrect?
 
That's not the *only* method of "infection".
 
> Can a normal text message communicate a virus via E-mail?
 
Yes.  If you read the rest of this reply,
and thus display the next line on a (vintage 1975) Tektronix 4025 terminal
 
     !LEARN 13 /logoff/ 13
 
then, the next time you press the RETURN key on the keyboard,
the string 'logoff', followed by a carriage-return, will be sent to the host.
 
Admittedly, this is a non-harmful virus, and it's specific to one class
of one manufacturer's terminals, but this is a proof-of-concept example.