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Melissa is a Word Macro virus, that is rapidly spreading all-over the Internet, causing Network overloads and being a general security nuisance (see our article: Wide spread infections of the 'Melissa' Macro Virus).
As Melissa is spreading and clones and enhancements of the virus are being developed (like an excel macro that is an improvement of Melissa), the FBI is searching for the author of the original author with intention of prosecuting him or her to the most extent of the law. |
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Credit:
ZD-Net's special Melissa information page: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/special/melissavirus.html
VicodinES claims innocence: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2234614,00.html
Scott Steinmetz explains that he did not write the virus: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2234614,00.html
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The investigation has taken an unexpected turn, as Richard M. Smith, president of software tools developer Phar Lap Software Inc., and Fredrik Bjorck, a Swedish PhD student at Stockholm University's Department of Computer and System Sciences had decided to use a new method of discovering who is responsible.
The Melissa Word macro spreads inside Word documents, when the original was sent to the alt.sex newsgroup. Since every word document contains a global unique identifier (GUID) that uniquely identifies the network card used in the computer that created the document, this creates a "fingerprint" of the person responsible to spreading the virus. This GUID is a controversial feature that enables to identify the source of every office document.
The GUID of the original infected document was compared against documents found in a web site (http://www.sourceofkaos.com/homes/vic/start.html) that belongs to a person that calls himself VicodinES. This web site was taken down recently, but the author is reportedly a known virus writer.
It is not clear whether this proof is enough, and it raises a serious question about the use of the GUID in office documents. The FBI wants to prosecute the writer with a fine of $350,000 and 5 to 10 years in jail. VicodinES allegedly used a stolen AOL account that belongs to Civil engineer Scott Steinmetz. Steinmetz was originally blamed for the virus, when actually VicodinES used Steinmetz's account to spread the virus.
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