|
CERT Advisory #13
NOTICE: TO ALL CONCERNED Certain text files and messages contained on this site deal with activities and devices which would be in violation of various Federal, State, and local laws if actually carried out or constructed. The webmasters of this site do not advocate the breaking of any law. Our text files and message bases are for informational purposes only. We recommend that you contact your local law enforcement officials before undertaking any project based upon any information obtained from this or any other web site. We do not guarantee that any of the information contained on this system is correct, workable, or factual. We are not responsible for, nor do we assume any liability for, damages resulting from the use of any information on this site.
Yesterday, a report was sent in to VIRUS-L regarding a disk,
distributed by the Government Printing Office (GPO), which is infected
by the Jerusalem B PC virus. I verified the report with GPO and they
faxed me a copy of a letter which they have sent out to all known
recipients of the disk. Attached is a (transcribed - sorry for any
typos) copy of the faxed letter.
Please refer to VIRUS-L/comp.virus for any possible follow-up
discussions.
Ken
Kenneth R. van Wyk
Moderator VIRUS-L/comp.virus
Technical Coordinator, Computer Emergency Response Team
Software Engineering Institute
Carnegie Mellon University
[email protected]
(412) 268-7090 (24 hour hotline)
===== Cut Here =====
Dear Depository Librarian:
GPO has just been notified by the Census Bureau that one of the floppy
disks just distributed by GPO with the _County and City Data Book_
CD-ROM is infected with a computer virus AND SHOULD NOT BE USED UNDER
ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. The floppy disk was listed on shipping list
90-0057-P as C 3.134/2:C 83/2/988/floppy-2. The title on the floppy
disk reads as follows:
Bureau of the Census
Elec. County & City Data Bk., 1988
U.S. Stats., Inc., 1101 King St.,
Suite 601, Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 979-9699
PLEASE DESTROY THE FLOPPY DISK AS SOON AS IT IS RECEIVED. (Do NOT
reformat and reuse the floppy disk.)
The virus has been identified as the Jerusalum-B virus (also referred
to as the Israeli virus). It infects any .COM or .EXE program on
MS-DOS personal computers and increases program size by approximately
1,800 bytes. Other programs are infected when they are executed in an
infected system.
The Jerusalum virus can cause significant damage on an infected
personal computer. It generally slows down the system and some
versions destroy all data on the hard disk. .EXE files continue to
grow in size until they are too large to execute.
If your computer has already been infected, we recommend that, if
possible, you seek assistance from a computer specialist at your
institution immediately. There are special programs available for
detecting and eradicating computer viruses. One may be available in
your institution or from someone you know. DO NOT USE YOUR PC TO
ACCESS A NETWORK OR PRODUCE FLOPPY DISKS CONTAINING .EXE OR .COM
PROGRAMS FOR BY OTHER PCS.
The _County and City Data Book_ CD-ROM can be used safely with the
software on the other floppy disk disk distributed in that shipment
((C 134/2:C 83/2/988/floppy).
If you have any questions, please call Jan Erickson at GPO (202
275-1003) or the Census Bureau Customer Service at (301 763-4100).
The Census Bureau and GPO regret any problems that this may have
caused. Appropriate measures will be taken to ensure that it does not
happen again.
|
|
