ADMINISTRIVIA vIRUS ALERT

["Lynn H. Nelson" <lhnelson@raven.cc.ku.edu>]

Symantec has recently raised a worm,
named W32.Goner.A@mm and reported yesterday, 4 December, to
Category 4 based upon its rapid spread and the amount of damage
it can cause. For those of you unacquainted with Symantec's 
nomenclature, Category 4 is the highest rating given, and is
composed of four criteria: "wild," meaning the current spread of
the virus and the ability of users to eliminate it; "damage," the
meaning of which is self-evident; and "distribution," running
from world-wide to isolated instances. W32.Goner.A@mm rates
Wild=high (4), Damage=medium (3  - which is bad enough for most
people), Distribution=high (4). 

	A CATEGORY 4 VIRUS SHOULD BE TAKEN MOST SERIOUSLY 

W32.Goner.A@mm can attack by e-mail through Outlook Express
(where have we heard that before?) and - and this is something
new in my experience - via the ICQ network. The name of the worm
file is Gone.scr and is 38 Kb in size. It's action is to send out
a mass mailing using the Outlook Express mailbook and to attempt
to destroy some resident files. Currently, the e-mail message
bears the subject line of HI, and the text reads

	How are you?
	When I saw this screen saver, I immediately thought about
	you. I am in a harry, but I promise you will love it!

"harry" sic.

This worm is so recent and its spread so rapid, that you would do
well to upgrade your anti-virus immediately and not wait for a
scheduled update. 

More information and a removal tool may be found at Symantec

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.goner.a@mm.html 

Be careful out there!

Lynn