-Caveat Lector- Man Arrested And Charged In 'Melissa' Virus Case BBC News Sci/Tech 4-3-99 Police in the US have arrested and charged a man they say created the Melissa computer virus, which swamped thousands of company e-mail networks last week. David L. Smith, 30, a network programmer, developed the virus in his apartment in Aberdeen, New Jersey, according to the state's attorney general's office. Melissa, one of whose effects is to display a message from Bart Simpson of The Simpsons cartoon, was named after a topless dancer from Florida. The virus appeared last Friday and spread rapidly around the world like a chain letter, causing affected computers to fire off dozens of infected messages, and crashing e-mail systems. Mr Smith now faces several charges, including interruption of public communications and third-degree theft of computer services. In all, the charges carry a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison and a $480,000 fine. Mr Smith has been released on bail. AOL help Melissa disrupted the operations of thousands of companies and government agencies. Several major US companies were forced to shut down mail servers, according to the New York Times. Mr Smith was tracked down with the help of America Online technicians, and a computer task force composed of federal and state agents. Authorities would not elaborate on the methods used to trace the virus, saying the investigation was ongoing. E-mail attachment Melissa infects computers when users receive a particular e-mail and open a Microsoft Word document attached to it. The e-mail is headed: "Important Message From" and contains the sentence: "Here is that document you asked for...don't show anyone else ;-)." If a user opens the attachment, usually called list.doc, a programme sends the e-mail to the first 50 addresses in the Global Address Book of anyone running Microsoft's Outlook personal organiser. In large companies, massive volumes of e-mail have been generated, with serious implications for Web servers. As the macro virus code is easily changed, variants have emerged, notably the Papa virus, which affects Excel spreadsheets. The UK company WH Smith is offering a free solution to the Melissa virus. It can be downloaded at the company's Website. Kwyjibo Simpsons link The virus contains comments that identify the author only as "Kwyjibo". The word Kwyjibo was made up by Bart from The Simpsons cartoon show, who coined it as a term of abuse for his father Homer in a Scrabble-playing episode. And if the e-mail infects an individual computer, the following Bart Simpson quote from the episode appears: "Twenty-two points, plus triple-word-score, plus 50 points for using all my letters. Game's over. I'm outta here." But the message only appears if the computer is launched when the day equals the minute value...such as 29 minutes past on the 29th. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
