To Listmembers,

This virus is for real.  You may want to read the following:


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>Date: Sat, 27 Mar 1999 17:42:41 +0200
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>From: Marita Näsman-Repo
>  <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: MEDIA RELEASE: A new computer virus spread globally within
>  hours of discovery
>
>>Media release
>For immediate release
>
>
>A new computer virus spread globally within hours of discovery
>
>Melissa virus infects Word documents, e-mails itself to other users
>
>Espoo, Finland, March 27, 1999. - DataFellows, one of the world’s leading
>developers of anti-virus and encryption software, is warning computer users
>about a virulent and widespread computer virus found on Friday, March 26,
1999.
>This virus has spread all over the globe within just hours of initial
>discovery, apparently spreading faster than any other virus before. 
>
>The virus, known as W97M/Melissa, spreads by e-mailing itself automatically
>from one user to another. The virus activates by modifying the user's
>documents, inserting comments from the TV series “The Simpsons”. Even
worse, it
>can send out confidential information from the computer without the user’s
>noticing it.
>
>The virus was discovered late Friday evening European time, early morning US
>time. For this reason, the virus spread in the USA during Friday. Many
>multinational companies reported widespread infections, including
Microsoft and
>Intel. Microsoft closed down their whole e-mail system to prevent a further
>spreading of the virus. The number of infected computers so far is
estimated at
>tens of thousands, and rising quickly.
>
>"We've never seen a virus spread so rapidly," comments Mikko Hypponen,
>DataFellows' Manager of Anti-Virus Research. "We've seen a handful of viruses
>that distribute themselves automatically over e-mail, but not one of them has
>been as successful as Melissa in the real world."
>
>W97M/Melissa was initially distributed in an Internet discussion group called
>alt.sex. The virus was sent in a file called LIST.DOC, which contained
>passwords for X-rated websites. When users downloaded the file and opened
it in
>Microsoft Word, a macro inside the document executed and e-mailed the
LIST.DOC
>file to 50 people listed in the e-mail alias file of the user. The e-mail
>looked as follows:
>
>        From: (name of infected user)
>        Subject: Important Message From (name of infected user)
>        To: (50 names from alias list)
>
>        Here is that document you asked for ... don't show anyone else ;-)
>
>        Attachment: LIST.DOC
>
>Most recipients are likely to open such a file, as it usually comes from
>someone they know.
>
>After sending itself out, the virus continues to infect other Word documents
>which the user accesses, i.e. it is not restricted to the initial LIST.DOC
>file. Eventually, these infected files can end up being mailed to other users
>as well. This can be potentially disastrous, as a user might inadvertently
send
>out confidential data to outsiders.
>
>The virus activates if it is executed when the minutes of the hour match the
>day of the month - for example 18:27 on the 27th day of a month. At this time
>the virus will insert the following phrase into the current document which
the
>user has open in Word: "Twenty-two points, plus triple-word-score, plus fifty
>points for using all my letters.  Game's over.  I'm outta here". This
text, as
>well as the alias name of the virus author, "Kwyjibo", are references to the
>popular "Simpsons" cartoon TV series.
> 
>"The virus won't spread much during this weekend. We will see the real
problem
>on Monday morning," continues Hypponen. "When a big company gets infected,
>their e-mail servers are seriously slowed down and might even crash, as
>computers start e-mailing large document attachments without the sender
>realising it." 
>
>W97M/Melissa works with Microsoft Word 97, Microsoft Word 2000 and Microsoft
>Outlook e-mail client. It can infect both Windows and Macintosh users. If the
>infected machine does not have Outlook or Internet access at all, the virus
>will continue to spread locally within the documents the user accesses.
>
>Data Fellows provides a free solution to the W97M/Melissa virus problem.
>Evaluation copies of the F-Secure Anti-Virus toolkit as well as an update to
>detect and disinfect the virus are available from the company's website at
>http://www.DataFellows.com
>
>Data Fellows is one of the world's leading developers of data security
>products. The company develops, markets and supports integrated anti-virus,
>data security and cryptography software products for corporate computer
>networks. It has corporate headquarters in San Jose, California and Espoo,
>Finland, with additional offices as well as partners, VARs and other
>distributors in over 80 countries around the world. 
>
>For more information, contact
>Data Fellows, 675 North First Street, 8th  floor, 
>San Jose, CA 95112; 
>tel 408-938-6700; fax 408-938-6701
>
>http://www.DataFellows.com   or   [log in to unmask]
>
>or 
>
>Data Fellows Corporation
>Mikko Hyppönen, Manager, Anti-Virus Research.
>PL 24
>FIN-02231 ESPOO 
>tel s +358 9 8599 0513
>fax +358 9 8599 0599
>e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
>http://www.DataFellows.com/
>
>Note to editors: Screenshots of LIST.DOC, where it all started, are available
>on the Data Fellows web site at the Virus Activation Screenshots Archive:
>http://www.DataFellows.com/v-pics/
> 
>------------------
>Marita Näsman-Repo                   tel: +358 9 8599 0613
>Communicator, Media relations  fax: +358 9 8599 0813
>                                       mobile: +358 40 517 4613
>Data Fellows Ltd.                      http://www.DataFellows.com 
>                               
>F-Secure products: Integrated Solutions for Enterprise Security 
>