Y2K Viruses

By Curry Searle, CWN - Desktop Support & VirusMaster*

Well, we are about down to the wire on this Y2K thing. It seems there has been quite the dialogue going around about potential Y2K viruses. While many of these 'viruses' cause simple annoying, non-destructive, cute things to happen there are some that could potentially cause lost production time. Check out some of the links below for more detailed information.

The main thing we can do to protect ourselves from these critters is to keep our virus definitions up-to-date. You can find the latest McAfee updates by pointing your favorite Web browser to one of the first two links on the list below.

http://www.unt.edu/virus Download the latest updates licensed for use by the UNT population

http://download.mcafee.com/updates/updates.asp Download the latest updates to your McAfee virus software - FREE download

If you want to read up on these virus threats, you can start with some of these articles:

http://www.mcafee.com/centers/y2k/y2k_viruses.asp Y2K Viruses and Threats

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19991208/tc/tech_virus_4.html Wednesday December 8 2:11 AM ET Computer Virus Season Spawns Mutant Strain

http://www.cai.com/press/1999/12/ca_warns_new_class_virus.htm COMPUTER ASSOCIATES WARNS OF NEW CLASS OF EXTENSIBLE COMPUTER VIRUS Disguised as a Y2K Bug Fix, W95.Babylonia First Worm Virus Controlled by Virus Writer ISLANDIA, N.Y., December 7, 1999

http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2403723,00.html New Mypics worm packs double punch By Lisa M. Bowman, ZDNet News December 3, 1999 3:19 PM ET

http://www.cai.com/press/1999/12/emg_w32.htm COMPUTER ASSOCIATES FIRST TO IDENTIFY Y2K SPECIFIC WORM CA Warns of New W32.MYPICS.WORM ISLANDIA, N.Y., December 3, 1999

* For those of you not familiar with me, I originally started my UNT tour of duty in the Computing Center back in 1993. I have made my way around the campus working for the College of Business Computer Support Team and also with the College of Arts & Sciences Computer Support Services. I am now back at the Computing Center taking over John Bradley's former position. As you may have guessed from this message I will also be taking over Wil Clark's position as the VirusMaster for the campus.

Happy Inoculating!

Curry