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

Microsoft Posts "Critical" Windows XP Patch

Microsoft Corp. posted a "critical" security patch for Windows XP today more »

Steganography, Next Generation

Steganography, the science of burying secret messages within something innocuous, has endured bad publicity recently, with unsubstantiated rumors of missives from Osama bin Laden hidden in images on websites. more »

Some Holiday E-Cards Charge

Just in time to send digital seasons' greetings, several top sites switch to subscription service for increasingly popular cards. more »

IT in play at Olympics

State Department visa system screens coaches, athletes for terrorist connections more »

search.lt news

search.lt presents newest links more »

Microsoft still mulling Liberty Alliance, says Belluzzo

Microsoft Corp. is still examining the Liberty Alliance Project, an Internet user authentication system, and has yet to reach a decision on whether to join the growing number of companies supporting the system, the company's president said Thursday. more »

FBI confirms ‘Magic Lantern’ exists

Spokesman says program being developed but not yet in use more »

November's E-Commerce Rise Smallest Of 2001

E-commerce spending last month rose just 10 percent over November 2000 more »

Game site recovers from Passport glitch

Microsoft's Zone gaming site appeared to be recovering Wednesday, a day after numerous consumers were shut out by glitches related to the site's switchover to the software giant's Passport identity-authentication service. more »

AOL Cuts Its Own Record of MusicNet

America Online, Inc., is releasing it own beta version of MusicNet more »