ADMINISTRATIVE: happy99.exe virus/worm
Jon Eidson (J.Eidson@TCU.EDU)
Fri, 26 Feb 1999 15:00:28 -0600
Since I personally read most of my email on unix systems, I dont have
near the problems that windows users might have dealing with these
virus.
Basically if you open the email you are ok, but if you RUN the program
then you ARE infected and need to take IMMEDIATE action to clean your
computer off before you spread it any further. It apparently uses your
email to send a copy of itself every time you send email without you
knowing it.
Further steps I've take has been to reduce the number of lines that is
allowed by a posting to 200 (from 300) ... this particular file was
232 lines. I've also removed the posting from tonights (Fri) digest
(I hope ... things are a bit diff on NT listserv than they were on our
IBM).
Here are some notes from other SCOUTS-L'ers:
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>From Ryan Keil <kip@ox.vsnet.com>:
This is a relatively new virus, deemed to be non-hostile worm. That is,
it does no irreversible damage. The way it works is, you receive it via
e-mail and run it. It replaces a couple of e-mail-related files (nice
enough to save the originals for you, if you know where to look). Then,
whenever you send e-mail, it reads the address line and subject line, then
mails itself to the same recipient(s) with the same subject you just used.
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>From Jim Miller Sr. <jjmsr@lsfcu.org>:
I've been hit in the last couple of weeks with both Happy.exe and
Happy99.exe. Based on my research, the sender is a innocent dupe. The
virus is designed to attach itself to outgoing e-mail.
It's not the sender fault. While a temporary suspension is appropriate
until the problem is cured, please don't blame the sender and ban
him/her permanently.
More info on these two viruses can be found at:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/vinfodb.html
http://vil.mcafee.com/vilarchive/vfi_0548.asp
http://www.irisav.com/lab/alerts.htm
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YiS, Jon Eidson, Listowner Scouts-L
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Jon Eidson (J.Eidson@tcu.edu) Information Services
Senior Systems Programmer Texas Christian University
Fort Worth, Texas 76129
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