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daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Anonymous)
Wed Mar 31 00:45:50 1999
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1999 07:22:25 +0200 (CEST)
From: Anonymous <nobody@replay.com>
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Reply-To: Anonymous <nobody@replay.com>
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Top Stories Headlines
Tuesday March 30 9:48 PM ET
Melissa Tracked To User Name 'Sky Roket'
By Dick Satran
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The search for the creator of the widespread Melissa computer virus
turned up a suspect in the form of online user name ``Sky Roket'' Tuesday.
But as investigators delved into the mysterious world of computer hackers and virus writers, ``Sky Roket''
turned out to be a virtual criminal, and not a real one. The name had been stolen from an America Online
Inc. (NYSE:AOL - news) user.
The computer virus Melissa, described as the most widespread ever seen, hit the Internet Monday, forcing
some companies to shut electronic mail systems and prompting an investigation by the FBI cybercrime
unit.
Computer security giant Network Associates Inc. said Tuesday it was able to link Sky Roket to Melissa and
a series of other computer viruses going back more than a year.
But the Sky Roket name was found to have been stolen from an AOL user. Skilled hackers are known to
steal passwords routinely, either to use online services for free or to help cover other illegal online
activities like hacking.
``It was not the person who owns the Sky Roket address who created Melissa, but a person who had stolen
that identity,'' said Sol Viveros, a marketing manager for Network Associates.
The Sky Roket name was turned up first in Norway on a computer bulletin board on sex subjects, he said.
The online ''suspect'' was further identified by a Global User Identification Number, which is embedded
in Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) software. But a Microsoft spokeswoman said, ``We do not
currently use that technology, and there is no way to know if that was the person's serial ID or not.''
Network Associates said it turned over the information about Sky Roket to the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, which assigned a high priority to the case Monday.
Computer security experts, government agencies and software companies were at work Tuesday trying
various ways to identify the creator of the Melissa virus that hit hundreds of thousands of computers at the
start of the work week.
The FBI would not comment further on its search for the hacker who had wreaked havoc on the Internet.
The Melissa virus invaded thousands of computers and then sent out e-mails from the target computer's
address books.
The search is being narrowed with help of telltale signs that include the hacker's mode of operating, from
backtracking the way the virus spread over the Internet and by picking apart the programming makeup of
the virus itself.
So far, it has been rare for investigators to apprehend virus perpetrators. But Network Associates' Viveros
said ``with all of the media attention on this one, and the FBI making it such a high priority, I think they
will find the person.''
The virus greeted huge numbers of workers as they signed on to their e-mail systems at the start of the
work week, spreading more quickly than any other virus in the history, according to computer experts.
The virus used a high-powered automation technology built into most personal computers. Often
disguised as a message from a friend or colleague, Melissa took the form of a simple e-mail sent to
unsuspecting users, saying ``Important message from....'' But when users open the message, it caused a
flood of new e-mails to be sent over the Internet from the reader's own online address book.
Using the powerful ``macro'' automation software built into millions of computers using Microsoft's
Windows operating system, the macro automatically triggered up to 50 new e-mails. It led to the shutdown
of computer e-mail systems and a flood of e-mails over the Internet starting last Friday.
Mar 29 | Mar 28 | Mar 27 | Mar 26 | Mar 25 | Mar 24 | Mar 23 | Mar 22 | Mar 21 | Mar 20
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