DATE=4/5/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=LOVE VIRUS (L-UPDATE)
NUMBER=2-262013
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=PENTAGON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: If you get a computer e-mail message entitled
"I love you," hit the delete key -- quickly! Experts
say the enticing message is probably a nasty computer
virus that is causing chaos for computer users around
the world. As V-O-A's Jim Randle reports, even some
of the people who help guard the Pentagon's computer
networks have been affected by the "love bug."
TEXT: If a computer user opens a message with the "I
love you" computer virus, the errant program will seek
out the user's e-mail address book, and send duplicate
messages to every name in the book.
The result is an electronic form of reproduction that
threatens to disable computer networks around the
world by overloading them with millions of extra
messages.
The press spokesman for the U-S Military's center for
computer network defense, Major Perry Nouis, says the
virus does more than just cause traffic jams on the
information superhighway.
/// Nouis Act ///
It's much more mischievous in the fact that it
actually affects files on individual computer
systems. In goes in and overwrites (erases)
files, it will mirror or duplicate files, and it
will corrupt data. It is a virus that is pretty
much insidious.
/// End Act ///
Major Nouis says Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado
Springs, Colorado had to shut down its e-mail system
because of the virus.
The base is home to some of the experts who guard the
Air Force's thousands of computer networks. It is a
few kilometers down the road from the North American
Air Defense Command, the group that scans the skies
for attacking ballistic missiles.
Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon says the virus also
affected computer networks at the military
headquarters, but he insists no weapons or secrets
were affected.
/// Bacon Act ///
(There is) absolutely no evidence this has
infected any classified (secret) computer
networks.
/// End Act ///
It did, however, affect the non-secret computer
networks used for routine business in many military
and government offices, including the C-I-A and the
White House.
Officials at the White House and the intelligence
agency say the virus attack was spotted quickly and
corrected before it had any noticeable affect on the
day's work.
Officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation say
they have opened a criminal investigation of the virus
attack.
The British Parliament had to shut down its e-mail
service for a while to slow the spread of the annoying
program, and the U-S Congress also reported some
problems with its computer systems.
Virus attacks by the new computer bug are also
reported by businesses around the world, the U-S Army
in Europe, the Voice of America office in Washington,
and many businesses in Britain, Denmark, Switzerland,
Hong Kong, and the United States. One report says the
virus first appeared in the Philippines capital,
Manila. Computer experts say the virus seems to hit
Microsoft e-mail programs particularly hard. They say
users can protect themselves by deleting, rather than
opening, messages labeled "I love you." (Signed)
NEB/JR/JP
04-May-2000 17:13 PM EDT (04-May-2000 2113 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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