http://cnn.com/TECH/computing/9901/29/iworm-ent.idg/index.html
Internet worm can crash corporate servers
January 29, 1999
by Roberta Fusaro
(IDG) -- A Helsinki, Finland-based data security firm is warning Netizens
about a computer worm, called Happy99, that can send hundreds of copies of
itself to the same newsgroups and E-mail addresses that an infected user
is posting or E-mailing to.
According to Data Fellows Inc., users' PCs don't suffer ill effects by
reading a Happy99 message in a Usenet newsgroup or in E-mail. When someone
executes the Happy99.exe attachment, a fireworks display appears on his
screen. Meanwhile, in the background, the worm alters the host computer's
Internet configuration to keep track of all E-mail or newsgroup activity.
The worm then spams itself to the same newsgroups and E-mail addresses to
which a user posts. It also maintains a list of newsgroups to which it has
sent a copy of itself.
Data Fellows said the worm doesn't pose a threat to computer files in the
way a virus would but warned that it could slow down or crash corporate
E-mail servers because of the volume of messages involved.
Original PC configurations can be restored by renaming the host computer's
winsock32.dll file. In addition, Data Fellows has a patch available on its
Web site at www.datafellows.com.
-o-
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Received on Thu Mar 11 17:15:59 1999