Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Computer virus haunts PCFA

A computer virus has infected the Prescott Community Freenet Association (pcfa), and is spreading.

According to information from the pcfa, at least 12 users have received the message containing the virus, with one being infected to the point of sending it to at least 300 others.

The virus, W32/Sircam, is sent with an innocent looking introduction saying, "Hi! How are you?" It concludes with, "See you later. Thanks."

The body message is in broken English or Spanish. It either reads: "I send you this file in order to have your advice.", "I hope you like this file I sendo you.", "I hope you can help me with this file that I need.", or "This is the file with the information you ask for."

The email contains an attachment. When the attachment is open, the virus becomes "alive" and starts its attack.

This particular virus affects all versions of Microsoft Windows, spreading through email and unprotected network shares, according to information from Carnegie Mellon University.

Once the virus has been executed, it may reveal or delete sensitive information. It also copies itself onto unprotected network shares.

When it has attached itself to sensitive files or emails, it either distributes them publicly, or deletes them from the system. What makes W32/Sircam so malicious, is once the data has been distributed on the open web, it can't be retracted.

The virus will likely give itself a file name, like C:\recycled\sircam.sys. This particular part then eats away at all the free space on the C: drive, which is normally a users hard drive.

When the space is gone, the user can no longer save files to it. But, the virus can also keep the computer from performing other functions, such as swapping data or printing information out.

Published reports on W32/Sircam, according to Carnegie Mellon University, show there is a good probability the virus will try to go back and delete all files Windows is installed on, again, normally the C: drive.

Users need to update their anti-virus software to help combat w/32, and use caution when receiving email with attachments.

It is suggested when such an email arrives, not to open it if the sender isn't known, and to check with the sender if they are known.

Firewalls can also be erected to keep the virus from spreading or attaching itself to other programming. The firewalls stop the virus by preventing it from getting to the outbound SMTP connections for mail servers outside the local network.

Another thing users should do if receiving one of the aforementioned email messages  delete it and immediately empty the email trash.