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1993-02-25
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This is article is from Reuter News Service on 2/23/93:
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 23, Reuter - A computer virus more
destructive than the programme-wiping Michelangelo could strike
next month, a South African software helpline said on Tuesday.
It said the virus, Exebug II, which was programmed to wipe
out hard discs on every day of next month, asks the system for
the date and wreaks destruction if the month is March.
The exact target of the Exebug II was not immediately clear.
Michelangelo was programmed to strike on the 517th anniversary
of the Renaissance master's birth last March, targetting the
hards disks contents of any computer compatible with the
International Business Machines Corp (IBM) standard.
South Africa was the country hardest hit by Michelangelo,
with more than 1,000 computers affected in up to 500 companies,
most of them pharmacists likely to have infected each other's
systems durign their frequent communications.
Viruses are rogue software programmes, usually designed by
anonymous hackers, that when activated might do anything from
flashing a message on the screen over and over to filling the
hard disk with gibberish as Michelangelo did.
Helpline, a software research and security firm, also said
there had been "confirmed sightings" of the Maltese amoeba
virus, described as a parasitic virus that can mutate causing
screens to flash and lose information. Danger dates were March
15 and November 1.
*** Additional note: Exebug II is not among the viruses which
can be detected by McAfee's Scan program! ***