[ISN] Internet worm can crash corporate servers

From: mea culpa (jerichoat_private)
Date: Mon Feb 01 1999 - 11:01:24 PST

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    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. 
    
    
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