Virus Warning on MS Outlook

Graeme Bacque (gbacque@idirect.com)
Wed, 10 Nov 1999 22:44:27 -0500 

On 10 Nov 1999 16:36:45 GMT, in misc.activism.progressive Ian Goddard
<Ian@goddard.net> wrote:

 >The Associated Press is reporting a new virus can infect
 >via email without your having to open an attached file,
 >just highlighting the email in the in-box of Microsoft's
 >Outlook Express will do it, and it will start attacking
 >data on your hard drive. Bad news! Here's the low down:
 >
 >http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991109/aponline220942_000.htm
 >
 > 'Seinfeld' Computer Virus Emerges
 >
 >  By Ron Harris
 >  Associated Press Writer
 >  Tuesday, Nov. 9, 1999; 10:09 p.m. EST
 >
 >  SAN FRANCISCO -- A dangerous new type of e-mail
 >  virus emerged on Tuesday, able to destroy information
 >  on computers even when users are careful not to fully
 >  open the messages.
 >
 >  The virus, nicknamed "Bubbleboy" after an episode of
 >  the TV show "Seinfeld," was e-mailed late Monday to
 >  researchers at Network Associates, a computer security
 >  company in Santa Clara. The company put a free
 >  software patch capable of blocking the attack on their
 >  Web site Tuesday.
 >
 > "This ushers in the next evolution in viruses. It breaks
 > one of the long-standing rules that you have to open an
 > e-mail attachment to become infected," said Network
 > Associates spokesman Sal Viveros. "That's all changed
 > now."
 >
 > The company isn't certain who sent the virus, but
 > researchers believed its threat is so serious that they
 > notified the FBI on Tuesday, said Vincent Gullotto,
 > director of the company's virus detection team.
 >
 > "It could basically disable your PC easily," Gullotto
 > said. "This could be a watershed."
 >
 > The virus sent Monday night was more playful than
 > destructive as it wormed its way through a computer's
 > hard drive, renaming the computer's registered owner as
 > "Bubbleboy" and making other references to "Seinfeld."
 > It also takes every address in a computer's e-mail
 > program and passes the virus along.
 >
 > The same technology, when paired with previously
 > known malicious commands, could be used to steal
 > personal information or erase a computer's hard drive
 > entirely -- attacks that, given the history of hacker
 > culture, Gullotto believes could appear within two to
 > three months.
 >
 > "This could be the catalyst," Gullotto said. "While the
 > Melissa virus was 'hell coming to dinner,' we have
 > reassessed that and know that something bigger, meaner
 > and nastier is on it's way."
 >
 > The Melissa computer virus clogged e-mail systems
 > around the world when it hit in March, but many
 > computer users were able to avoid trouble by deleting
 > the e-mails without reading them. Like other e-mail
 > viruses, Melissa wreaked havoc only after users
 > double-clicked an attachment to the seemingly benign
 > messages.
 >
 > "Bubbleboy" only requires that the e-mail be previewed
 > on the Inbox screen of Microsoft's Outlook Express, a
 > popular e-mail program. As soon as the e-mail is
 > highlighted, without so much as a click of a mouse, it
 > infects the computer.
 >
 > The virus affects computers with Windows 98 and some
 > versions of Windows 95 that also use Microsoft's
 > Internet Explorer 5.0 and Outlook Express Web browser
 > and e-mail programs. It apparently does not affect
 > Netscape's e-mail programs, Gullotto said.
 >
 > Even without Network Associates' software patch, there
 > is an easy fix. Enabling Microsoft's highest-security
 > filter will block such e-mails and keep the virus from
 > entering.
 >
 > Bill Pollak, a spokesman for the Computer Emergency
 > Response Team at Carnegie Mellon University, said his
 > researchers would be looking out for the new type of
 > virus.
 >
 > Researchers believe the virus, which appears as a black
 > screen with the words "The Bubbleboy incident,
 > pictures and sounds" in white letters, was sent by the
 > same person who created another virus in July -
 > "Freelink" - which forwarded e-mail with links to
 > pornographic Web sites to stolen e-mail addresses.
 >
 > ...
 >
 > A software patch created to protect against the virus is
 > available for free at www.mcafee.com.


--
Graeme
<http://webhome.idirect.com/~gbacque/gbacque.html>
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