W97M/Prilissa - a bug whose payload is set to go off Christmas Day - strikes Fortune 500 firms on three continents.
Published:
21 November 1999 y., Sunday
It_s called the W97M/Prilissa virus. But a better name for it would be the Grinch virus. Anti-virus researchers at Network Associates Inc. said Friday that 10 Fortune 500 companies on three continents have been hit with a new virus called W97/Prilissa. Prilissa is a nasty variant on two better known attacks - the Melissa worm and the PRI virus. The virus depends on the Windows 95 and 98 operating systems and the Word 97 word processing application. IF OPENED, IT WILL E-MAIL itself to the first 50 names on a computer_s Outlook or Outlook Express e-mail client.
"This is probably the fastest infection rate we_ve seen since Melissa," said Sal Viveros, anti-virus product manager at Network Associates, in Santa Clara, Calif. The virus uses macro commands similar to those of Melissa to replicate itself. But the virus itself won_t go off until Christmas day. That means it won_t have much of an impact on companies, which aren_t likely to be open on that day, even if it should go undetected. But there is a big threat to home PC users, particularly unsuspecting children logging onto the computer to play with their new games on Christmas. The Dr. Suess analogies are endless. The virus itself looks for a registry key to verify if the local system has been infected. If it hasn_t, the virus creates a Microsoft Outlook e-mail message with the subject line "Message From (Office 97 user name)" and a message body that says "This document is very Important and you_ve GOT to read this!!!"
The first 50 listings from all address books are selected, along with an attachment - the infected document, whatever it is.
If the date is Dec. 25, the virus runs a destructive payload to overwrite the existing C:/AUTOEXEC.BAT file with instructions to format the C: drive.
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
Software company announced new structure_ of it_s business.
more »
Space officials want proposals for a NASA archiving system that would create a one-stop multimedia source for the public
more »
Search giant Google will offer its advertisers the chance to more tightly target the geographical areas where their ads will be seen
more »
Lindows executives have rolled out a new moniker for its desktop Linux software and the name is...Linspire
more »
More than one million junk emails sent on one day alone
more »
U.S. company controls domain names; security, governing discussed
more »
18th world’s largest information technologies’ and telecommunications’ exhibition “CeBIT 2004”, which takes place in Hanover (Germany) annually, has already ended.
more »
Top offending countries: Yugoslavia, Nigeria, Romania
more »
A man accused of using EarthLink Inc. e-mail accounts to release a flood of unsolicited commercial ("spam") e-mail on the Internet has been convicted on charges of identity theft and falsifying business records
more »
Search player Google is getting into the e-mail game
more »
Microsoft officials sought to dissuade Intel from investing in handwriting software startup GO Corporation in 1990, according to the latest round of e-mail evidence
more »