12/25/1999

While looking to see if any news media has picked up on Jim Lord's "The Pentagon Papers of Y2K" I am came across the above.

-- Bill P (porterwn@one.net), August 19, 1999

Answers

From CNNFn Industry Watch:

Grinch Virus Arriving for Christmas Day / It affects Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT The San Francisco Chronicle

Company Multilink

 Symantec Corp.  Microsoft Ever heard about the computer virus that stole Christmas? You will. On December 25, a newly discovered computer virus could wipe out all data on machines running Microsoft Windows software.

"This is the most malicious virus I have ever seen," said Keith Peer, president of Central Command Inc., an Ohio firm that makes antivirus protection products.

The new virus, dubbed Win32.Kriz.3862, or Christmas for short, invades computers that use either the Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT operating systems.

The virus can be contracted by computer users who download software applications, such as screen savers or computer games, over the Internet and then install them on their personal computers. The virus can then be transmitted to many more people via e-mail attachments, according to experts.

The trigger date for the Christmas virus is December 25, which means it can harmlessly lurk within a PC for months before it begins to wreak havoc.

If the virus remains undetected, on Christmas Day it will attack all the drives on a computer, erasing all data, from Word files to e- mail documents, as well as wiping out data that resides on a network to which the infected computer is attached.

"This virus has real evil intent," said Peer. "You won't even be able to turn your computer on. This makes the recovery of the PC very difficult." He said the Christmas virus is even more malicious than the infamous Chernobyl virus, which knocked out about 300,000 computers across Asia last year.

"Chernobyl only worked on Windows 95 and Windows 98, and not NT," he said. "Plus Chernobyl only went after a computer's C-drive. Not this one, it erases data on all your computer drives, including the network."

Carey Nachenberg, an antivirus expert at [ Symantec Corp. ] , said he first became aware of the Christmas virus last week. He said his company, which makes antivirus software, was contacted by a customer who discovered the virus on one of its computers.

While he admitted the virus poses a serious threat to computer users, he said there is no need to panic. That's because users have at least four months to detect the Christmas virus.

He also said that this is a more "visible" virus than Chernobyl and easier to detect before it causes damage.

"Computer users can actually see this virus in that it occupies hard- drive space," he said.

Both Command Central and Symantec said they have updated their detection software and databases to identify and disable the Christmas virus. Users can download patches that recognize the virus from www.avp.com and www.symantec.com.

[ Microsoft ] , for its part, said it was unware of the latest threat to its operating system. "Software is a powerful tool that allows you to do incredible things," said Microsoft spokesman Adam Sohn. "But the bad side is that sometimes you can use it to do malicious things."

He said users should regularly update their antivirus software, and they should not open any program or attachment unless they know its original source.

There are about 200 known Windows viruses in existence, according to Nachenberg.

(Copyright 1999)

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Publication Date: August 19, 1999 Powered by NewsReal's IndustryWatch

-- Bill P (porterwn@one.net), August 19, 1999.