[I'm only permitting this because of the general interest. I will accept NO OTHER MELISSA RELATED MESSAGES, PERIOD. --Perry] http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19990402S0008 Suspected Creator Of Melissa Virus Arrested (04/02/99, 12:21 p.m. ET) By Christine Casatelli, A New Jersey man has been arrested by federal and state officials and charged with originating the e-mail virus known as Melissa, the Associated Press reported on Friday. The man, David L. Smith, 30, of Aberdeen, N.J., was arrested Thursday night at his brother's house in nearby Eatontown, N.J., said Rita Malley, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Attorney General's Office. Smith originated the virus -- which caused worldwide e-mail disruption this week -- from his apartment in Aberdeen, Malley said. Smith was captured with the help of America Online technicians, and a computer task force composed of federal and state agents, Malley said. He is being held at the Monmouth County Jail. Newsgroup-sniffing software from security vendor Network Associates discovered where the virus was first posted -- at the alt.sex newsgroup. A search of the file spotted an origin time close to the time it was published on the newsgroup. Network Associates researchers at the vendor's Anti-Virus Emergency Response Team (AVERT) lab identified an AOL user with the moniker "Sky Roket" as the person who first posted the virus. The Melissa virus, which sends 50 infected e-mail messages with a list of pornographic sites to recipients named in the end user's address book, first surfaced late Friday. Late Monday, the inevitable follow-on to the Melissa virus made its first appearance. Named Papa, this new Excel virus works in a similar way to the Melissa bug. Papa arrives via e-mail, claiming to be sent by "all.net" or"Fred Cohen" in the end user's inbox, and then replicates, mailing itself to the first 60 users in the address book. Elyn Wollensky Programming Development Group IDG Books Technology Publishing 900 Third Avenue NYC, NY 10022 voice: +1.212.381.4517 fax: +1.212.381.4501
