-=PCTechTalk=- Re: New Virus Infection
- From: " milady" <kg6ocz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 20:17:43 -0800
RIGHGHGHGHT... now let me go find that bottle of black peanut butter that
is so popular but you can only use on sweet pea bread????...uh huh.
----- Original Message -----
From: "The Keyboard Cowboy" <KBCowboy@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "PCTechTalk - Freelists" <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 7:22 PM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- New Virus Infection
Human Contact Spreads PC Viruses
By A.C. Feafunnoll
The federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and National Science
Foundation (NSF) have issued a stunning joint announcement: PC
viruses, worms, and spyware can now be transmitted via human contact.
Researchers at St. Paul's College in Virginia have isolated roughly
100 cases of systems infected by human contact, the two agencies said
at a press conference at NSF headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The
mode of transmission? Each system's user had physical contact with
another user whose system was known to be infected. The level of
contact was found to be as brief as a handshake. One researcher,
Avril Hidokwon, said she documented a case where the Netsky.P virus
spread to 12 systems via a sneeze.
Scientists have long held that electronic viruses could not possibly
spread unless there was some sort of digital (wired or wireless)
connection between the infected PC and the victim systems (or the
victim systems and servers). "What we did not account for," explained
Hidokwon at the hastily organized joint press conference, "was
nanotechnology." Apparently these PC viruses, Trojan horses, and
pieces of spyware are not simply floating on air or clinging to
people's hands; they're actually being transported via "nanobots"
tiny robots that may be no more than a molecule in size and are
capable of carrying out simple instructions. There is already a cell-
sized robot that can walk on its own. But these virus bots are,
according to the CDC's Earl Leis, an accident. "We believe that the
first infections originated in California," Leis explained. According
to a statement handed out to journalists at the Arlington press
conference, two scientists in Southern California, Daniel Banner and
Petrona Parker, reported in January that about 140,000 nanobots that
had been developed to deliver insulin to diabetics via the bloodstream
had been lost in their lab. The NSF noted the incident but did not
report it to any other government body. "We assumed," said the NSF's
Charlene Crykit, "that the bots would simply run out of power and die.
That, obviously, never happened."
The current theory holds that the bots affixed themselves to
biohazardous material that was disposed of by the lab. Then, during
California's recent rainstorms, the bots used the sewer systems to
spread and, possibly, propagate.
The NSF and CDC, however, are at a loss to figure out how the bots
got from the sewers to computers. "One theory," said the CDC's Leis,
"is that some runoff made it to the California water-filtration
plants and eventually got into the drinking supply." As for how the
infected water made in into an infected PC, Leis theorizes that
"someone accidentally spilled drinking water on his or her keyboard."
"I'm not at all surprised," said PC industry watcher and longtime
PCMag.com columnist John C. Dvorak. "It was bound to happen. All of
our
systems are rife with spyware, and many, many of them have hidden
viruses." Dvorak even has a theory on how the infected nanobots got
back out of the infected system and onto the first human carrier,
"Some idiot burned a CD or DVD and then took it out of the &&^%*&!-up
system. The %#&*! bots then went directly from the surface of the
optical disk to some poor schlub's hands. Most of these idiots don't
even bother to wash their hands after using the bathroom. He probably
wiped his hand right across his face and inhaled the suckers. The
rest is history. Sheesh!" For now, the CDC and NSF believe that the
outbreak is confined to Southern California, New Mexico, Utah, New
York City, and Delaware. They're asking computer users in those states
and municipalities to shut down all of their systems and servers for
72 hours. Trapped in the systems without any light, moisture, or
electricity, the system-bots should die within 24 to 72 hours, the
agencies said. As for bodily contact, users in the afflicted areas
should bathe themselves, family members, and even pets in kosher salt
baths. That will make the bots gorge themselves on diluted salt and
die within 26 minutes, say the California researchers who developed
them. Companies in affected states should close down their offices,
contact a haz-mat team, and have them sweep for infections.
For instructions on how you can decontaminate yourself and your PC
and also avoid infection, go here:
_http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1781206,00.asp_
(http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1781206,00.asp)
Regards from
Bob -- the "Keyboard Cowboy",
,,,,,,,,
Ô¿Ô¬
Cincinnati, Ohio - Scottsdale, Arizona
-----------------------------------------------
Friday, 4/1/2005, @ 10:17:34 PM EST
-----------------------------------------------
A man who thinks too much about his ancestors is like a potato—the
best part of him is underground.
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