Hi All,
Received this yesterday from a patron of one of my websites. Then it was on
tonight's 6 o'clock news. For more info, you can read about it at
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/virus990328.html
Mitzi
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Thanks! Here's what's on the website:
You've got (unwanted) mail
E-mail virus invades
Microsoft Outlook
March 28, 1999
Web posted at: 6:10 p.m. EST (2310 GMT)
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Monday
morning could bring some e-mail
madness to businesses who've had a
weekend visit from Melissa.
The "Melissa macro" is actually a virus -- also known as W97M_Melissa --
and experts say it can hit anyone using Microsoft's Outlook e-mail
program.
It struck at Microsoft, Intel, and dozens of other companies on Friday,
and it's now moved throughout the online world.
Each time the virus is activated, it sends as many as 50 e-mails with a
caption saying "important message." Often the sender appears to be
someone you know. That's because the virus automatically grabs names
from the address book of whoever activates it.
Melissa is running rampant because everyone who gets it potentially
could spread it to dozens of others.
Here's how to find out if Melissa's lurking in your e-mail: look for a
message that says "important message from ..." and then a name that may
be familiar.
Don't open it. If you do, inside you would see a message saying: "Here's
the important document you asked for. Don't show anyone else" and an
attachment called "list.doc."
Don't click on that either. If you do you will receive a list of
pornographic Web sites -- and also the virus that will infect the next
document you open.
Mail servers could crash
"Any document in your PC could potentially get infected, and if you then
happen to send that document to a colleague at work or a friend and they
open it, that document will potentially then be sent to up to 50 people
in that person's Microsoft Outlook address book," said Steve Trilling of
the Symantec Antivirus Research Center.
"This one, from a technical standpoint, isn't dangerous in and of
itself," added Ira Winkler of the Internet Security Advisors Group.
"What makes it dangerous is that it can spread very, very rapidly and
fill up mail servers, causing mail servers around the world to crash."
Symantec and other companies producing antivirus software have devised
software patches which are posted on their Web sites.
Carnegie Mellon's Computer Emergency Response Team said all businesses
and governments must take precautions against the potential security
breach. The team has issued only one other worldwide warning since it
was founded 10 years ago.
Correspondent Steve Young contributed to this report.