-=PCTechTalk=- Re: New Virus Infection
- From: "Joyce" <jmcclure@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2005 16:09:39 -0600
I hurried to the bottom of this message expecting to find an "April Fool"
but all I got was "this page cannot be displayed" when I clicked on the
link. Same thing I suspect!
Joyce
----- Original Message -----
From: "The Keyboard Cowboy" <KBCowboy@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "PCTechTalk - Freelists" <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 9:22 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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