Dan Knight May 2000

May 4, 2000 - 10:50 A.M. EDT: This virus was first detected today (May 4, 2000) 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.
• 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."

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