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                Date: 1999-03-30
                 
                 
                Melissa mutiert: Excel Macro-Virus aufgetaucht
                
                 
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      q/depesche  99.3.30/1 
updating       99.3.29/1 
 
Melissa mutiert: Excel Macro-Virus aufgetaucht   
 
Die Schäden durch die Melissa-Epidemie sind noch nicht  
einmal aufgenommen, da treten schon die ersten Mutationen  
in Form von Excel-Macros auf, die nicht anhand der für  
Melissa typischen Eigenschaften zu identifizieren sind.   
 
Inzwischen ist auch klar, dass der MS-Outlook Mailer nicht  
einmal in Verwendung stehen muss, er braucht nur  
konfiguriert zu sein, um Melissa automatisch zu verbreiten.  
Desgleichen wird ab Infektion jedes Word-Dokument  
automatisch Melissa-Überträger, der Virus nistet sich  
nämlich in der Vorlage Normal.dot ein. 
 
Soviel Aufregung, dabei sind weder das Original noch die  
Mutationen auf echt böse Wirkung programmiert.   
 
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The Melissa virus is already mutating into more destructive  
variants, confirming the worst fears of computer security  
experts 
 
One incarnation of the virus spreading around the Internet  
does not contain the "Important Message From" subject line  
that has identified Melissa. Yet another version employs an  
Excel macro which would similarly bypass barriers put in  
place over the weekend by network administrators. 
... 
"It looks like these guys -- the virus writers -- are trying to  
one-up each other," said Dan Schrader, director of product  
marketing at Trend Micro, an anti-virus software firm. 
 
After the virus began circulating around the Internet on  
Friday, IT managers worked furiously to block its spread,  
filtering out e-mails with the original subject line. But now  
they'll need to go back to the drawing board because the new  
variants could bypass protections already put in place. 
 
What's more, computer security experts warn that the  
Melissa clones could easily be created to carry more lethal  
payloads. 
 
Above all, they say that it wouldn't be hard to create a variant  
of Melissa that uses MAPI, an e-mail standard, to create a  
virus that spreads by co-opting functions in all e-mail  
programs. The original Melissa just targets Microsoft's  
Outlook mail software. 
.... 
The most devious -- if not original -- aspect of "Melissa" is  
how it infects. If the user has Microsoft's Outlook mail client,  
the macro sends the document to the top 50 addresses in  
user's address book, appending the subject line "Important  
Message From" and then the username of the apparent  
sender. The body of the message has the text, "Here is the  
document that you asked for -- don't show anyone else ;-)"  
and the current file is attached. Since the first 50 addresses  
in Outlook databases tend to be e-mail groups, the virus can  
spread to hundreds of users at a time. 
 
There's a risk even if the user does not normally use Outlook.  
Security experts say that as long as Outlook is set up to  
send mail on the user's system, the infected documents will  
get sent. In addition, the default Word template -- which acts  
as the basis of every new document that the user creates --  
will get infected with the virulent macro code. Subsequent  
Word documents created by the user will also contain the  
virus. 
.... 
Already, a variant with a blank subject line has emerged on  
the Internet, according to Trend Micro Inc. Another one, using  
an Excel macro to spread was posted on the news group  
alt.bondage and is contained in a message labeled "Urgent  
info inside. Disregard macro warnings." 
 
An early look at Excel variant indicates it used an e-mail  
standard known as MAPI to manipulate several different  
messaging software programs, not just Outlook, as Melissa  
does. Also, opening the spreadsheet triggers 60 e-mails to a  
user's address book, ten more than the Melissa virus. 
 
full text 
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2233667,00.html
                   
 
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"There is no solution because there is no problem" Marcel Duchamp 
http://www.heimatseite.com/revamp-duchamp
                   
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edited by Harkank 
published on: 1999-03-30 
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