New virus from same source as Melissa?
Published: 22 Sep 1999 17:11 BST
The anti-virus company that recently upgraded the Suppl.doc virus to a category "medium/on watch" threat has suggested a possible link between this virus and Melissa, and expressed concern over the way the virus is continuing to spread.
Rob Eatwell, European product marketing manager for Network Associates, the anti-virus company that first highlighted Suppl.doc as a threat on Tuesday, says that the fact that this virus was initially distributed on the same alt.sex newsgroups as Melissa indicates it could be of a similar origin. "The technique used is the same as Melissa, so it could be from the same source. I wouldn't like to say it is from the same person, but it could be from the same group or something."
The Suppl.doc is both a trojan horse and a virus, with the potential to render useless files with the extensions, .doc, .xls, .txt, .rtf, .dbf, .zip, .arj and .rar on a victim's hard-drive by setting those document's file lengths to zero.
Network Associates has issued an update of its virus detection software that tests for Suppl., and, in its virus warning, states that even if files are rendered null, it may be possible to recover these using undelete software.
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