Discovered just two weeks ago, the computer virus known as "My Doom" has already managed to infect the computers of over 50 UB students, faculty and staff as well as millions of people worldwide.
Mark Ferguson, manager of UB's Computing and Information Technology HelpDesk, said the virus tricks users into opening unsuspicious e-mails, which, when accessed with programs like Microsoft Outlook, will automatically download the virus onto the computer.
"Once a computer is infected, the virus can scan the machine for any e-mail address that particular computer has been in contact with, then it tries to spread to those addresses by copying itself and sending itself out to those people," Ferguson said.
The most perilous aspect of the My Doom virus is that it leaves one person's computer open to use by others through the installation of a program called a backdoor, CIT specialists said.
"Essentially, if someone knows that you have the virus, it would be like he had the remote control to your computer," Ferguson said.
This bug is unique because it damages a computer in more than one way, leading to its four-out-of-five severity rating by Symantec, the company that produces the popular Norton Anti-virus program.
The company compares My Doom to other computer viruses in the level of threat it poses, the extent of the damage it does, and the extent of its distribution through the Internet. My Doom has ranked a medium in its ability to do harm and a high in its level of circulation.
My Doom falls under the "worm" category of viruses, according to www.symantec.com, because it replicates using a conveyance method, such as e-mail.
The Web site states that the worm affects Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows XP, as well as other systems. It does not affect Linux, Macintosh, DOS or UNIX.
Not only does the virus use home computers to perpetuate itself - it has the ability to act as an Internet hyperlink, Ferguson said.
On Feb. 1, one strain of the infection known as My Doom A attempted to send enormous amounts of network traffic to one Web site, www.sco.com, a company based in Utah.
"Imagine if over a million computers were all trying to access the same site simultaneously. It would cause the site to break down," Ferguson said.
Symantec's Web site states that the virus' attachment can contain any of the following file extensions: .bat, .cmd, .exe, .pif, .scr, or .zip.
UB's technical support team, which includes the CIT HelpDesk and UB Micro, has been working to rid the campus of the virus since its introduction on Jan 26.
UB's campus agreement with Norton Anti-virus provides the entire UB community with a free copy of the program to help safeguard against viruses such as My Doom. The campus' Central E-Mail System is scanned repeatedly for bugs before any e-mail is filtered through.
"Several thousand messages are cleaned daily," Ferguson said.
The university has firewall protection which blocks sites that contain unsafe materials and encodings. CIT has also sent out e-mails to warn people about the virus as well as discuss what steps should be taken to rid a computer of it.
"We also unplug people from the ResNet network so they don't spread the virus to others," said Bill Tipton, a technical specialist and sales representative at UB Micro. "What we're trying to do is educate students and faculty about ways to prevent the virus from affecting your computer."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
