-Caveat Lector-
Has anyone on the list actually seen this virus ... or even know
anyone who has ?
Divine~
=================================================
Only the paranoid survive
=================================================
--- Steve Wingate wrote:
> -Caveat Lector-
>
> New Fast-Spreading Virus Takes Internet by Storm
>
> By MATT RICHTEL
> The New York Times
>
> SAN FRANCISCO -- A rapidly spreading computer virus forced
> several
> large corporations to shut down their e-mail servers on Friday
> night as
> it rode the Internet on a global rampage, several leading
> network security
> companies reported Saturday.
>
> The security companies said early reports of the virus, which
> is carried by e-
> mail, led them to believe that tens of thousands of home and
> business computers had been infected on Friday alone. The
virus
> reproduces itself exponentially, they said, trying to use each
> infected
> message to send 50 more infected messages.
>
> "This is the fastest-spreading virus we've seen," said Srivats
> Sampath,
> general manager for the McAfee Software division of Network
> Associates, a Santa Clara company that makes anti-virus
> software.
>
> Network security experts said that the virus appeared to do no
> harm to the
> machines it infected and that individuals could easily disable
> it. But
> they said its purpose is to interrupt networks by replicating
> itself so rapidly
> that it overwhelms networks and e-mail servers, the electronic
> post
> offices that direct message traffic.
>
> E-mail infected with the virus, which its creators call
> Melissa, has a topic
> line that begins, "Important Message From." Next is the
> sender's
> name, which is often the name of a friend, fellow worker or
> someone else
> known to the recipient.
>
> The message within the e-mail is short and innocuous: "Here is
> that
> document you asked for ... don't show anyone else ;-)"
Attached
> to it is a
> 40,000-byte, or 40K, Microsoft Word document named list.doc.
>
> When the recipient opens list.doc, the Melissa virus
> automatically searches
> for an e-mail address book. It then sends a copy of itself --
> the
> message and attachment -- from the recipient to the first 50
> names it finds
> in the recipient's address book, which accounts for the rapid
> acceleration across the Internet.
>
> The virus is known to spread rapidly with two popular e-mail
> programs,
> Microsoft Outlook and a slimmed-down version of the same
> program,
> Microsoft Outlook Express, which is part of the Windows 98
> operating
> system and is often installed with Windows 95.
>
> Network security administrators said they had seen no evidence
> that
> Melissa was able to open and use the address books in other
> e-mail
> programs, but they did not rule out the possibility that it
> could and would do
> so.
>
> Several anti-virus software makers posted software on their
Web
> sites that
> their customers can download to detect the virus-encoded
> message and refuse it.
>
> A fix for the general public was available on
www.sendmail.com,
> the Web
> site of Sendmail, the Emeryville company whose post-office
> software
> is often used to direct mail on the Internet.
>
> Eric Allman, a co-founder of Sendmail, said he was concerned
> that the
> problem would worsen on Monday morning when employees find
> these
> messages in their e-mail in-boxes. "This will get into a lot
of
> mail boxes and
> lay dormant," he said. "When employees come in at 8 a.m. and
> read these messages, it will cause an explosive growth of the
> virus."
>
> Allman characterized the virus' virulence as "not the worst
I'd
> seen, but it's
> pretty bad." He added, however, that it appeared to be the
> fastest-replicating virus he had seen.
>
> Individuals can avoid contracting or spreading the virus
simply
> by not
> opening the attachment that accompanies the e-mail. Opening
the
> message alone will not cause the virus to copy the address
list
> and send
> itself out.
>
> Alternatively, users can disarm the virus by disabling the
type
> of program
> that contains it -- "macros," which are small applications
used
> to
> automate tasks in Microsoft Word documents. Disabling macros
in
> Microsoft Word will render the virus ineffective.
>
> Officials from Microsoft said they were not certain of the
> magnitude of the
> virus and emphasized that it could be easily disarmed. Adam
> Sohn, a
> company spokesman, said, "If folks are careful about what runs
> on their
> machine, they'll always be fine."
>
> The virus overwhelmed employees on Friday at GCI Group, a
> public
> relations firm with offices throughout the United States.
>
> One contract employee, who exchanges mail with a number of
> company
> employees, said she received more than 500 messages during the
> day.
>
> "It hosed my entire day," said the employee, Leigh Anne
Varney.
> "You can't
> print the words I used. I've never had this happen before."
> This
> hardly is the first virus to attack and spread automatically
> via e-mail, but it is
> the first to move from being a controlled, essentially
> experimental
> form "into the wild," said Dan Schrader, director of product
> marketing for
> Trend Micro, an anti-virus software maker in Cupertino.
>
> The rapid spread of the program was reminiscent of a 1988
> program,
> known as a worm, written by Robert Tappan Morris, then a
> graduate
> student in computer science at Cornell University. Morris'
> program spread
> through the Internet with remarkable speed, ultimately
> disabling more
> than 6,000 computers.
>
> However, the Internet was tiny in 1988 compared with the size
> of today's
> network. As a result the potential for the spread of the
> program is truly
> vast.
>
> "We haven't seen anything impact this many people on the
> Internet in a long
> time," said Schrader. He said that three of his company's
> customers had temporarily shut down their e-mail servers to
> delete the
> infected mail.
>
> Whoever wrote the virus also left the message "W97M --
> Melissa." The
> note said the virus was created by "Kwyjibo," which Trend
Micro
> officials speculated is a reference to the television show
"The
> Simpsons."
> In an episode of the Simpsons titled "Bart the Genius," Bart
> Simpson
> wins a Scrabble game by using the "word" Kwyjibo.
>
> The theory dovetails with a second impact of the virus: Once
> the virus has
> infected a computer, it will type a message on the screen when
> the
> time of day corresponds to the date (on March 26 it would be
> 3:26). The
> message reads: "Twenty-two points, plus triple-word-score,
plus
> 50
> points for using all my letters. Game's over. I'm outta here."
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Steve Wingate
>
> California Director
> SKYWATCH INTERNATIONAL
>
> Today's MP3: Xaz: Boiling Lake
> http://www.mp3.com/artists/8/xaz.html
>
> ANOMALOUS IMAGES AND UFO FILES
> http://www.anomalous-images.com
=== message truncated ===
_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
