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 »
It was reported that yesterday Canadian Sony Ericsson internet store was attacked
more »
Worldwide mobile communication device sales to end users totaled 427.8 million units in the first quarter of 2011, an increase of 19 percent from the first quarter of 2010, according to Gartner, Inc.
more »
At the Computer Human Interaction conference in B.C. this week, a team from Texas A&M University unveiled a touch screen technology they’ve been incubating for a couple of years that isn’t really a screen at all.
more »
A fully autonomous robot, Pneubron 7-11 has been created at the Hosoda Labs in Osaka University. The Pneubron robot was designed to find the link between human interactions and motor development.
more »
The ability to control objects simply by thinking about them is the subject of serious research in laboratories around the world with wheelchairs and even cars now being driven by the power of the mind. It's all very serious science, but in Japan, technologists are demonstrating that mind control can also be a lot of fun.
more »
Microsoft is planning on ramping up the amount of advertising free users of Skype see while they are making video calls and using the rest of the service.
more »
How certain was the U.S. Navy Seal team that it was Osama Bin Laden they shot, killed and buried at sea? According to a Florida company that makes biometric identification equipment, there's no doubt the Seals got their man.
more »
David Braben, the founder of Frontier Developments from Great Britain, has developed a small and very cheap computer "Raspberry Pi".
more »
Online music service Spotify is turning up the heat on Apple as it aims to create an alternative to iTunes.
more »
Kingston Queen's University specialists have developed the world's first prototype of flexible minicomputer.
more »