Computer viruses slow down network servers

By KATE DAILEY
and CINDY KOONS
Collegian Staff Writers

Two new computer viruses are entering e-mail inboxes and infecting computers nationwide. "Happy99" and "Melissa" both were spread through mass e-mailing of copies of the virus. The virus now is slowing computers and causing network servers to shut down.

The "Melissa" virus first was detected last Friday, and since then has infected thousands of computers.

The virus is sent through Microsoft Outlook in an e-mail in which the subject line reads "Important Message from . . ." and then a name of a friend or colleague. The body of the message reads, "Here is the document you asked for . . . don't show anyone else ;-)." Attached to the e-mail is a document with the names of several Internet pornography sites. Once the attachment is open, the virus is activated, sending duplicate e-mails to the first 50 people in the program's address book, said Bill Orvis, security specialist with the Computer Incident Advisory Committee for the United States Department of Energy.

The virus does not disable any computer programs. Instead, it clogs up e-mail servers by sending multiple copies.

"Sites are being inundated by thousands of e-mail messages . . . It's a real problem to clear out," Orvis said. "I haven't heard of any systems crashing, but there have been several e-mail systems that came to a standstill."

The danger of the virus is multiplied because of the speed at which it spreads. This also makes it difficult to catch the creator of the virus, Orvis said.

"If it infected slower, we could track it," he said. "The trouble is it travels so fast . . . you get infection on top of infection on top of infection . . . It's very difficult to tell where it started and where it came from."

Although "Melissa" should clear up within the next few days, the threat of mutation and copycat viruses that cannot be detected by anti-virus software still remains, Orvis said.

Penn State has remained largely uninfected, said Kathy Kimball, manager of Computer and Network Security at Penn State, because few students use Outlook Exchange.

"('Melissa') hasn't been as big of a deal for us . . . Nobody has reported a problem." Kimball said.

However, a similar virus called "Happy 99" was reported on campus earlier this semester.

According to an incident note from Carnegie Mellon University's Cert Coordination Center, the first time "Happy99" is executed, a firework display titled "Happy 99" appears on the computer screen while simultaneously modifying system files. Most virus scanning tools will detect and clean "Happy99" from a system, or the virus can be manually removed from infected systems.

"We've had a few reports (of 'Happy99'), but not a huge and vast amount," Kimball said.

Just like "Melissa," the virus spreads by posting e-mail copies of itself. Messages sent from the infected system send the "Happy99" virus without the user's knowledge, she added.