Melissa virus goes global

Published: 31 March 1999 y., Wednesday
MeThe Melissa computer virus, discovered only last Friday,has spread itself by e-mail around the world and is causing havoc for large corporations, according to security experts.It is just a macro virus but it has this additional feature of being able to get around quick.Melissa conceived in sex group Dr Solomon_s VirusPatrol, which checks newsgroups on the Net for developing viruses, discovered Melissa in a sex newsgroup on March 26.The New York Times reported that several major US corporations shut down their mail servers on Friday night as they became overloaded with messages created by the virus.Comments inside the macro virus identify it as "Melissa...by Kwyjibo." Computers become infected when users receive a particular e-mail and open a Word document attached to it.The e-mail is headed: "Important Message From" and contains the sentence: "Here is that document you asked for...don_t show anyone else ;-)." the attachment is usually called list.doc.If the user launches the document, their computer becomes infected, although the worst thing that can happen apparently is if it is launched when the day equals the minute value...such as 29 minutes past on the 29th, the following message appears:
" Twenty-two points, plus triple-word-score, plus fifty points for using all my letters. Game_s over. I_m outta here." When the document attachment is launched, a program is created which replicates the e-mail and sends it to the first 50 addresses in the Global Address Book of users running Microsoft_s Outlook personal organiser. Microsoft, Network Associates and other anti-virus and computer security companies have issued warnings and are supplying fixes for Melissa.
Šaltinis: Internet
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.

Facebook Comments

New comment


Captcha

Associated articles

Iraq, its domain and the 'terrorist-funding' owner

The war against Iraq may be drawing to a close but the war over its Internet future is just beginning more »

Windows CE to outship PCs in five years - researcher

In five years' time, more Windows CE devices will be shipping than Windows PCs more »

Government surveillance of online phone calls sparks controversy

Wiretapping takes on a whole new meaning now that phone calls are being made over the Internet, posing legal and technical hurdles for the FBI more »

Hidden cost

The high price of piracy more »

Sex takes backseat to Al-Jazeera site in Internet searches

In spite of being mostly knocked offline, the Web site of Arab satellite news network Al-Jazeera was among the most sought-after on the Internet last week more »

Canada becomes first to ratify NATO expansion

Canada has become the first nation to ratify expansion of the NATO defense alliance, which Latvia and six other nations have been invited to join more »

HP Thinks in 3D for Web Browsing

Hewlett-Packard's future vision of shopping online more »

Writers of Viruses Get Politics Bug

The war hasn't spawned new viruses. Instead, the same old viruses are being sent with new subject lines in the e-mail. more »

Web swarm gathers in the Netherlands

Eyebees, a Dutch-based start-up, has launched a beta version of a software application bearing the company's name that allows users to become either part of or lead an on-line "swarm" as they navigate the Internet more »

search.lt news

search.lt presents newest links more »