IP: One more in full, last one Massive e-mail virus outbreak spreads like wildfire (InfoWorld)

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Sat, 27 Mar 1999 20:10:55 +0200 (EET)
> From: Mahou Shoujo Pixy Misa <waste () zor hut fi>
> To: cypherpunks () toad com
>
> Hey, could someone make a version what would scan the computer
> for documents with keywords like 'secret' or 'confidential' and
> e-mail them for the world?
>
> http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?990326.wcvirus.htm
>   
>   Massive e-mail virus outbreak spreads like wildfire 
>   By Dan Briody
>   InfoWorld Electric
>   
>   Posted at 4:43 PM PT, Mar 26, 1999 
>   A crippling and embarrassing virus has spent the day marauding
>   countless e-mail inboxes around the world, replicating itself to
>   end-user address books and sending an exhaustive list of pornographic
>   Web sites to everyone therein.
>   
>   Dubbed the "Melissa" virus, the culprit has hampered -- and in some
>   cases entirely shut down -- e-mail systems for companies the world
>   over. For example, Microsoft has put a halt to all outgoing e-mails
>   throughout the company.
>   
>   "Some users at Microsoft received an e-mail that contained a Word
>   document that has attached to it a macro virus," said Andrew Dixon,
>   group product manager for Office at Microsoft. "If that document is
>   opened and the macro virus is allowed to run, it is possible [for the
>   virus] to send e-mail to a number of other users."
>   
>   Dixon said that Friday afternoon, Microsoft "temporarily turned off
>   outgoing e-mail" company-wide to guard against spreading the virus.
>   Dixon said he did not know how many Microsoft employees received the
>   marco virus, or how many may have triggered it
>   
>   At risk are Microsoft Exchange Servers running Microsoft Outlook. With
>   an ever-changing subject heading of "Important Message From [end-user
>   name], the attachment to the e-mail is a document entitled "list.doc"
>   with a body of text reading "Here is that document you asked for ...
>   don't show anyone else ;-)."
>   
>   Upon opening the attachment, Microsoft Word 97 will ask if you want to
>   disable the macros, to which you should reply yes, or the e-mail will
>   automatically be sent to the first fifty names on each company mailing
>   list.
>   
>   "If you don't disable the macros, the virus resends itself to everyone
>   in [your] address list," said John Berard, a spokesman for Fleishman
>   Hillard, which was infected by the virus and inadvertently spread it
>   around. "We've been shut down and working on the problem all day. It's
>   hard working without the effective use of e-mail. But this thing did
>   not originate with us."
>   
>   In addition, the virus automatically changes the security settings of
>   an infected system to the lowest possible setting, a slick move that
>   has IT managers wondering if they will have to manually reset every
>   infected PC in their enterprise.
>   
>   Fleishman Hillard immediately shut down its systems when it discovered
>   the virus and contacted federal authorities. Fleishman Hillard has
>   more than 1,500 employees worldwide.
>   
>   Meanwhile, the list of companies affected is growing exponentially. An
>   Intel spokesperson reported that the chip-giant had been "touched" by
>   the virus and is working on correcting the problem. "It's all over,"
>   he said.
>   
>   Tom Moske, network manager for USWeb CKS, said the virus has made for
>   a very long day. "It's going to propagate like crazy. It's gone to all
>   of our client and personal addresses. We are kind of laughing,
>   although it is pretty bad. This is a good one."
>   
>   A fix for the virus has been posted on the Trend Micro Web site. All
>   major antivirus companies are expected to follow suit by Monday.
>   Symantec is on a company-wide holiday today.
>   
>   Dan Schrader, director of product marketing at Trend Micro recommends
>   that IT managers do not panic upon learning of the insidious virus,
>   but shut down the e-mail system and go to Trend Micro's Web site at
>   housecall.antivirus.com/smex_housecall for further instructions.
>   
>   Though Schrader could not say how many companies had been affected, he
>   did say the his company was "getting swamped with calls and hits on
>   the Web site. Obviously it spreads very rapidly."
>   
>   Schrader said the virus is easy to detect and not destructive in
>   nature. But it can cause serious bandwidth constraints and contains
>   several quirky characteristics.
>   
>   According to Trend Micro officials, the virus has a hidden message
>   that is time triggered to reveal a quote from the popular TV series
>   "The Simpsons."
>   
>   Dan Briody is the client/server section editor at InfoWorld. Bob
>   Trott, Stannie Holt, and Michael Lattig contributed to this report.
>   
>                     Go to the Week's Top News Stories
>                                      
>                                      
>    Please direct your comments to InfoWorld Deputy News Editor, Carolyn
>    April
>    
>                Copyright © 1999 InfoWorld Media Group Inc. 
>                                      
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