birding-aus

birding-aus Virus info - NOT a hoax

To:
Subject: birding-aus Virus info - NOT a hoax
From: RUSSELL DEAN WOODFORD <>
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1999 15:31:31 +1000 (EST)
Please read this if youu use MS Outlook:


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 17:38:46 +1000 (EST)
From: Richard Leigh <>
Subject: Important information about the Melissa.A virus

THIS EMAIL IS BEING SENT TO ALL STAFF & STUDENTS

Hi all,

In case people have not heard about this, the latest of the EMAIL worm
viruses which shut down major companies mailing systems over the
weekend, including (apparently) the one at Microsoft is called the
Melissa.A virus.

The virus basically is another word macro virus but it uses VBA
(scripting language) to send itself to the first 50 people in your
Outlook address book.  The messages are sent with the following Subject
line: "Important Message from - [UserName]" - If you receive a message
like this do not open the attachment, delete it straight away.

Taletales you have the virus:
In the Office 97 version of Word the virus removes the Tool/Macros menu
item and then turns off three options: ConfirmConversion,
VirusProtection and SaveNormalPrompt.

In the Office 2000 version of Word it sets the registry key:
"HKEY_CURRENT_USERS\Software\MicrorsoftOffice\9.0\Word\Security\Level"
to "1" and removed the menu item titled Macros/Security. The registry
key "HKEY-_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Melissa?" is then
checked and if its not been set to "by Kwyjibo", the virus assumes the
PC has not been infected and then proceeds to execute the dangerous part
of the code (Redistribuition through Outlook).

At various times (when the number of minutes past the hour is the same
as the current day) the following text will be inserted into your
document:
"Twenty-two points, plus triple-word-score, plus fifty points for using
all my letters. Game's over. I'm outta here."

Background:
Interestingly enough for those Simpsons fans out there the word
"Kwyjibo"
comes from a game of scrabble played by Bart a few seasons ago.



+------------------------------------------------------------+
Richard Leigh             Ph: (613) 5227 8819
Deakin University
Web Section Leader

http://www.deakin.edu.au/div_its/web

To unsubscribe from this list, please send a message to

Include ONLY "unsubscribe birding-aus" in the message body (without the
quotes)

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
  • birding-aus Virus info - NOT a hoax, RUSSELL DEAN WOODFORD <=
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU