UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 21, Page 1
February 27, 1992
Expert says: Take precautions to detect Michelangelo virus

     There's a virus in the area. But it's not the kind that can be
cured with an extra dose of aspirin or a few bowls of mom's
homemade chicken soup.
     On March 6, the 517th anniversary of Michelangelo's birthday,
a menacing computer virus named after the Renaissance artist is set
to strike.
     No one knows exactly where it will hit, or which personal
computers (PCs) will be affected, but the illness has already
infected Leading Edge Products Inc., a major Boston-area computer
company.
     Closer to home, the New Jersey Institute of Technology campus
in Newark is another victim. More than 2,400 of that institution's
3,000 personal computers have been identified as containing the bug
that is set to explode next week. When that happens, term papers
will be lost, research reports will become unreadable, and even
software and data stored on PC hard drives will be affected.
     According to reports being published in newspapers throughout
the country, millions of computers are susceptible worldwide. Some
experts estimate that as many as 500,000 PCs may be infected in the
U.S. alone.
     Clinton White, associate professor of accounting and director
of the Center for Information Systems Management Education and
Research (CISMER), is a recognized authority on computer viruses.
     White explained that Michelangelo is a boot sector virus which
can reside within any properly formatted floppy disk. As soon as an
infected diskette is placed in a machine, the infection will be
passed to the PC's memory and hard disks.
     Only IBM or DOS-type microcomputers can be affected by
Michelangelo, he said. And, based on what currently is known about
the virus, only PCs, not entire systems or networks, can be
infected.
     "We do not have specific information about how much damage it
can do," White said. "It can probably wipe out everything on the
hard drive, the entire system."
     Michelangelo eats data, he explained. Infected PC users will
not see a blank screen but, instead, unreadable, scrambled
characters in stored files. The virus can affect all types of
programs, including  word processing, data base and Lotus files.
     As of Feb. 25, White had not received any reports of the
Michelangelo infection at the University.  But, he added, there is
no way of knowing if it is already here or not. Campus computer
users can, and should, take precautions.
     The first thing to do, White said, is to get a copy of F PROT,
the virus scanning software used by the University, or another
reputable anti-virus software package. F PROT can be secured from
the Microcomputing Resource Center (MRC) in Smith Hall, or from
other local computer laboratories located throughout the campus.
     F PROT should be activated so that every disk to be used in a
PC is checked. In addition, the virus-scanning software should be
applied to the entire hard-drive computer system, to see if
Michelangelo is already present and waiting for its namesake's
birthday to appear.
     If the virus is discovered, the user can activate the
anti-virus software to eradicate the infection.
     Because Michelangelo is scheduled to explode on March 6, some
users think they will outwit the virus by not turning on the PC
until March 7.
     Not a good idea, White said, since viruses like these are set
to go off whenever an infected PC is activated on or after the
scheduled infection date.
     This being the case, he advised that it's very important that
users take serious precautions to protect information, software and
computers.
     For more information, he suggested individuals contact the MRC
at 831-8895 or a public computer site on campus.
                                        - Ed Okonowicz