editor@chinet.UUCP (Alex Zell) (05/27/88)
Is your computer infected? Expert says 50,000 US computers have been infected
with Pakistani brain virus written by two brothers in Lahore. The following
is from The New York Times, May 25, 1988.
-0-
A rogue computer program deliberately introduced into personal computers at
The Providence Journal-Bulletin earlier this month destroyed one reporter's
files and spread to floppy disks throughout the newspaper's computer system,
the Rhode Island newspaper said.
The program did not prevent the newspaper from publishing, officials said.
Its damage was limited to one reporter losing several months of work
contained on a floppy disk.
Computer specialists believe this is the first time an American newspaper's
computer system has become contaminated with such a rogue program, known as a
computer "virus." The newspaper's technicians said they were not sure how the
virus had entered the computer system.
A virus program is a program that can be hidden on a floppy disk and will
copy itself onto a personal computer's master software when the floppy disk
is inserted into the computer. The rogue programs remain hidden and some
continue to contaminate every flopy disk subsequently inserted in the
computer.
There have been numerous reports of the viruses appearing in computer
systems in recent months. In many cases, the virus merely displays a
humorous message or graphic. In more malicious examples, however, the virus
has been designed to destroy and distort data.
The Journal-Bulletin, in an article on May 15, said technicians at the
newspaper had worked for 10 days to stamp out the virus program. It said
"the virus has been contained, but the potential damage was enormous."
The incident underscores the dangers to newspapers, which are becoming
increasingly dependent on personal computer networks to write and edit
news articles.
The virus made it appearance on May 6 when a Journal-Bulletin financial
reporter, Froma Joselow, saw the message "disk error" on her computer screen
after she unsuccessfully tried to print out a copy of a news article she had
been writing.
Computer experts at the Providence-Journal Company discovered the virus
program on the floppy disk Ms. Joselow had been using. It caused a message
to appear on the computer screen that read: "Welcome to the Dungeon....Beware
of this VIRUS. Contact us for vaccination." The message included an address
and phone number of Brain Computer Services, a computer company in Lahore,
Pakistan, and the names Basit and Amjad.
Peter Scheidler and other technicians at the newspaper began examining
other floppy disks in use in the newsroom for possible contamination. They
found that the rogue program was so well hidden that disks used to check
the computer system were themselves contaminated and further spreading
the program.
Mr. Scheidler telephoned the number in Pakistan contained in the program
and reached Basid and Amjad, two brothers, who did not give their last name.
They confirmed that they had written the program, but they could not explain
how it had traveled from Pakistan to Providence, R.I.
John McAfee, a specialist in the detection of computer viruses and president
of the Interpath Corporation of Santa Clara, Cal., said the program is the
best known of the estimated 25 computer viruses in the United States and is
called the Pakistani brain virus. He estimated that "at least" 50,000
personal computers in the United States had been infected by it.
--
Alex Zell ..ihnp4!chinet!editor
Pictou Island, NS