May 4, 2000 - 10.50 A.M. EDT: This virus was first detected today
and apparently originates in the Philippines. Perhaps the
first online resource was the F-Secure Virus
Information Page. It was the only one I could find when first
posting this article.
Odds are pretty good that you will receive this email. It is a worm
containing a Visual Basic script that uses the Microsoft Outlook email
client to send itself to everyone in the recipient's address book.
Everyone.
And we all know how dominant both Windows and Outlook are. This is
spreading like wildfire. We've already received it.
It cannot infect Macs, unless you are running Windows and Outlook
with a DOS card or via Windows emulation software. However, if you
forward it to a Windows user, it will infect their systems.
This virus will make a mess of a Windows computer, so warn your
Windows-using friends. It has already forced some companies to shut
down their mail servers and internet connections.
Mac users, just delete the message and attachment.
Windows users, do not open this email. Do not give the enclosed file
any opportunity to run.
11:20 A.M.: From a poster on Slashdot, "if
the preview pane is open in Outlook, the script runs without you even
opening the mail." Others dispute this. I don't do Windows or use
Outlook, so I can't say more.
Also, Computers
swamped by "love" virus, BBC News.
11:50 A.M.: LoveLetter worm apparently infects Windows versions of
both Outlook and Outlook Express.
12:10 P.M.: MacInTouch
denies the worm infects Outlook Express.
May 5, 2000 - 7:00 A.M. EDT: Reuters
is reporting at least four variants on what Slashdot has
called the first Open Source virus.
LoveLetter Links
- ILOVEYOU
worm an accident?, ZDNet, 5/11. "...de Guzman did not confess to
creating the virus but said that he may have been responsible for
unleashing it onto the Internet."
-
Linux users unscathed by ILOVEYOU, Nicholas Petreley, CNN, 5/9. Mac
users are not alone in avoiding the Love Bug.
-
Children of Love Bug: No celebration, ZDNews/Yahoo, 5/8. "The worm
also infects files on networked and mapped drives, and it sends itself
to people who join a chat room with an infected member."
- Microsoft
criticized for lack of software security, c|net, 5/5. "Microsoft
has built in the ideal virus transmission mechanism into the operating
system."
- Love
Bug computer virus sweeps world, Yahoo/Reuters, 5/5. "'We are now
seeing four new variants (of the original virus) spreading
rapidly in the wild and expecting this number to increase in the next
few days,' said Central Command Inc, a U.S. company which specializes
in anti-virus protection."
- "ILOVEYOU" worm
keeps mutating, MacWeek, 5/5.
-
Jesse's cure for the Love Bug, Jesse Berst, ZDNet, 5/5.
- Computers
swamped by "love" virus, BBC News, 5/4. "A computer virus that
carries the message 'Iloveyou' is disabling computer networks across
the UK," and around the world.
- I
Love You "virus" hates everyone, Slashdot, 5/4.
-
ILOVEYOU email worm invades PCs, ZDNet, 5/4. "Melissa-like e-mail
worm, bearing the title ILOVEYOU,' is sweeping through Asia and has
been reported in the U.S. and the UK."
- Computer
"love" bug hits Asian, European businesses, government, Boston
Globe, 5/4.
- VBS.LoveLetter.A,
Symantec AntiVirus Research Center, 5/4. Threat assessment:
high.
- How to fix
Windows after a LoveLetter infection, ThePope.com, 5/4 [Slashdot].
"1. If Outlook is running, turn it off now!"
-
Love Bug virus hits corporate email systems, Financial Times, 5/4
[TechNN]. "Thousands of companies
took their email systems offline on Thursday morning after being hit by
the virus."
- CERT
Advisory CA-2000-04 Love Letter Worm, 5/4. "Systems Affected:
Systems running Microsoft Windows with Windows Scripting Host
enabled"
- Macs
mostly immune from worm, Stephen Beale, MacWeek, 5/4. "The Love
Letter worm currently infecting PC systems worldwide cannot replicate
itself on a Macintosh, experts told MacWEEK. However, Macs running
Windows emulators could be affected."
