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Re: Fw: more info on virus (NO LBC)

To: "Bryan Vandiver" <Bryan.Vandiver@Eng.Sun.COM>, "Spridgets" <Spridgets@autox.team.net>, <Bushwacker4@prodigy.net>
Subject: Re: Fw: more info on virus (NO LBC)
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 18:57:22 -0400
LMAO all the way to Mac OS X. 

Larry

Then we get to deal with all the security attacks that most UNIX users 
deal with everyday ;-(  
But still no virii

>>>>On 6/20/00 6:23 PM so and so (Bryan Vandiver) said. (And I quote:)

>Well if everyone quit running that crappy SW from that company in WA, this 
>wouldn't be a problem :-)
>
>OK - so I'm biased ;-)
>
> - Bryan (UNIX forever!)
> 
>>To: "Spridgets" <Spridgets@autox.team.net>
>>Subject: Fw: more info on virus (NO LBC)
>>X-Priority: 3
>>X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
>>X-Mimeole: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300
>>
>>Hey All,
>>
>>There's another new virus attack happening:
>>
>>> New Virus Strikes E-Mail Systems
>>>
>>> By D. IAN HOPPER
>>> .c The Associated Press
>>>
>>> WASHINGTON (June 20) - A new computer virus, which looks like a harmless
>>text
>>> file, has caused shutdowns of the e-mail systems at four Fortune 100
>>> companies, anti-virus experts said Monday.
>>>
>>> The virus does no harm to computer files, but similar to May's ''Love
>>Bug''
>>> virus, simply multiplies by sending itself out to everyone listed in the
>>> infected computer's address book.
>>>
>>> While users are well-warned about VisualBasic attachments, which appear as
>>> ''.vbs'' extensions, the so-called ''Stages'' virus looks like a text
>>file,
>>> complete with ''.txt'' extension. But the real extension is ''.shs,''
>>which
>>> stands for Windows Shell Scrap Object. A Scrap file can contain anything,
>>> including executable and malicious code.
>>>
>>> The ''.shs'' extension does not appear even if a user sets Windows to show
>>> all file extensions. Microsoft designed this extension to be invisible,
>>and
>>> it cannot be changed without entering the operating system's most fragile
>>> configuration systems.
>>>
>>> The virus hit companies in the United States by Friday and began appearing
>>in
>>> Australia and Asia over the weekend, said David Perry of Trend Micro Inc.,
>>a
>>> maker of anti-virus software.
>>>
>>> Since then, makers of the popular McAfee anti-virus program have
>>reclassified
>>> ''Stages'' as a larger threat, and said more than 100 of their customers -
>>> many major companies and almost all based in the United States - reported
>>> infections. One company had more than 5,000 individual users infected.
>>>
>>> ''Due to the infection rate, we're moving it to 'high risk,''' said Sal
>>> Viveros, a spokesman for McAfee.
>>>
>>> Viveros said an analysis of the virus showed that it was signed by someone
>>> named ''Zulu,'' the same author that wrote the ''Bubbleboy'' virus that
>>> appeared last year.
>>>
>>> ''Stages'' uses Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express mail programs to
>>spread,
>>> but it can also infect through chat rooms or America Online's ICQ instant
>>> messaging software.
>>>
>>> The e-mail message contains ''funny,'' ''life stages'' or ''jokes'' in the
>>> subject line. The text of the message reads ''the male and female stages
>>of
>>> life,'' with an attachment, ''life-stages.txt'' or
>>''life-stages.txt.shs.''
>>> The attachment contains a joke about advancing age.
>>>
>>> Surprisingly, an anti-virus vendor first warned users about the threat of
>>> stealthy ''.shs'' files containing viruses in August 1998. But this is the
>>> first reported ''.shs'' virus, according to virus experts.
>>>
>>> Anti-virus companies have issued software updates to catch the new virus
>>and
>>> are encouraging businesses to filter incoming mail and delete attachments
>>> with the ''.shs'' suffix.
>>
>>


Larry Macy
78 Midget

Keep your top down and your chin up.

Larry B. Macy, Ph.D.
macy@bblmail.psycha.upenn.edu
System Manager/Administrator
Neuropsychiatry Section
Department of Psychiatry
University of Pennsylvania
3400 Spruce St. - 10 Gates
Philadelphia, PA 19104

 Ask a question and you're a fool for three minutes; do not ask a 
question and you're a fool for the rest of your life. 


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