-Caveat Lector-
Computer viruses 'poised for ambush' on New Year's Day
By Charles Arthur, Technology Editor
23 December 1999
Millennnium bug viruses may have infected computers, where they
will lie dormant until 1 January, after which they will wreak
havoc when the machine is next switched on.
The warning about "millennium bug viruses" has come from a number
of companies that write "anti-virus" software. They say they have
detected half a dozen such viruses, transmitted via e-mail, and
that more may already have been sent.
The viruses affect computers in a number of ways, ranging from
wiping all the data on the user's machine, to having no effect at
all because of bugs in the virus's own programming.
The viruses are intended to appear to the unwary user to be a
"Y2K" or millennium bug problem, by not showing up until the new
year. All share the common trait that, on arrival,they do nothing
but check the year date on the machine's battery-powered internal
clock.
As long as that is not 2000, they will remain dormant. But as
soon as the machine is switched on after 1 January the viruses
will go to work and deliver their "payload". Viruses are small
chunks of computer code, usually spread as files attached to
e-mails. When the file is opened the virus copies itself on to
the user's machine.
Sal Viveros, group marketing manager for total virus defence at
Network Associates, an American anti-virus company, said: "We've
actually already seen postings on some of the Usenet [chat]
groups [for virus writers and hackers] where they are discussing
how to use Y2K to 'hose' systems." David Emm, a product manager
at Network Associates in Britain, said the most danger-ous Y2K
virus identified so far was called "Mypics", which would disrupt
the internal clock after 1 January.
Carey Nachenberg, chief researcher at the Symantec Anti-virus
Research Center in Santa Monica, California, said: "It's possible
that we could see 200,000 viruses around Y2K."
Some experts think the fears are being hyped, however. "There are
viruses which will wipe your hard disk on 1 January, but some
will do that on any day of the year," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant at Sophos in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. "This
talk of 200,000 viruses; well, there are 48,000 known viruses in
existence. It's asking a lot to expect 152,000 viruses to be
written in the next few days. We really aren't expecting a virus
deluge."
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Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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