A reliable source has told me that Network Associates has discovered another
e-mail virus similar to the "Melissa" Virus. The new virus, dubbed "Papa",
sends itself in the same manner as Melissa, but it sends itself to the first
60 people in a user's address book, where Melissa sends itself to the first
50. Also, Papa sends a e-mail everytime the virus is activated whereas
Melissa sends a message the first time it is opened.
The subject line for e-mail carrying Papa is "all.net and Fred Cohen"
The body of the e-mail, which contains an attached document titled
"path.xls" then instructs the user not to disable the macros, which is how
the virus is activated.
According to NA, the most disruptive aspect of Papa is the fact it "pings"
an as-yet-undetermined external site to make sure there is an available
Internet connection. The practice of pinging is not unusual, but Papa pings
so many times that it brings a network down.
Darren Maxwell
MCSE+I; CCNA; CNE
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