-Caveat Lector-
>From http://www.msnbc.com/news/754879.asp
}}}>Begin
State Dept. sends out computer virus
Travel warnings e-mail list inadvertently transmits �Klez�
By Bob Sullivan
MSNBC
May 20 � The U.S. State Department inadvertently e-mailed several computer
viruses to a mailing list this weekend that provides information on travel warnings.
Subscribers to the department�s �DOSTRAVEL� list received copies of the Klez worm
over the weekend; an apology e-mail arrived Monday morning. �If you ever have any
doubts about any e-mails arriving from our listserver, you should delete them, and
not risk getting a computer virus,� the apology read in part.
THE VIRUS CAME in the form of an attachment
named doc.bat, which was infected with the pesky Klez worm . The worm can be
destructive � some versions disable anti-virus products. Other versions can copy
private documents and spreadsheets and mass mail them around the Internet.
A spokesperson for the State Department said none of the agency�s computers
were infected, and that the virus had no impact on any internal systems. Instead, she
blamed the incident on a third-party vendor, L-Soft international, Inc., which hosts
the
DOSTRAVEL e-mail list service.
L-Soft could not immediately be reached for comment.
The State Department is hardly alone in dealing with Klez. The worm and its many
variants has been the world�s most-reported virus for several months now; with
infections rates slowly on the rise. UK e-mailing filtering firm MessageLabs Inc. says
it has stopped about 650,000 copies of the bug.
A spokesperson for the State Department confirmed the virus troubles Monday.
The list software has now been reconfigured to never pass along attachments,
according to the agency.
�On Saturday, Washington D.C. time, there were
several messages sent to the DOSTRAVEL mailing list with viruses, despite our
safeguards,� the apology e-mail read. �We have taken additional steps to prevent this
from happening in the future.�
LIST WARNS OF TRAVEL THREATS
It was not immediately clear how many people subscribe to the list. It�s open to
the
public; some journalists subscribe to stay abreast of potential travel threats
overseas.
MSNBC.com is a subscriber and received several of the infected e-mails.
According to the
State Department�s Web site, the list provides notification when the State
Department recommends that Americans avoid travel to a certain country.
Only about 10-15 email messages are sent across the list per month. The list is
popular overseas; hundreds of Web sites in multiple languages link to the list�s sign-
up page.
End<{{{
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