A VICIOUS beast has turned up on the Internet. It is a file-gobbling virus
that arrives as a friendly reply to an e-mail you have sent someone recently.
鈥淗i, I received your e-mail and I shall send you a reply ASAP. Till then, take a
look at the attached zipped docs.鈥� If you do, the ExploreZip virus will destroy
files on your computer while mailing itself as a reply to messages it finds in
your mailbox
(see 鈥淢elissa鈥檚 evil sister鈥�).
The Internet is turning into a real jungle, you might be tempted to exclaim.
In fact, it鈥檚 a lot more like those vast expanses of cornfields that fill the
American Midwest. And just as vast agricultural monocultures are vulnerable to
disease unless they鈥檙e pampered with pesticide sprays, millions of
interconnected identical computer programs allow viruses to spread like
wildfire.
But there鈥檚 another reason why the threat posed by computer viruses is
mounting. Not so long ago, virus writing was an arcane pursuit. Its leading
practitioners mostly didn鈥檛 want to trash the world鈥檚 computer systems. Instead,
they got an intellectual thrill from sending their creations whizzing around the
world, dropping a few calling cards along the way鈥攑erhaps in the form of
quotes from The Simpsons dropped into documents.
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But now, it seems that there is a new breed of virus writers. Using a
virus-writing tool kit that can be downloaded from the Net, anyone with an ounce
of malice can bolt together sections of malicious code and unleash the result on
the monoculture of the world鈥檚 computer networks. Indeed, antivirus specialists
say that most of the old-style virus writers are lying low in the wake of the
publicity created by Melissa, the virus that made headlines by jamming the
world鈥檚 e-mail gateways earlier this year.
ExploreZip is a 鈥渨orm鈥�, a term given to viruses that can propagate themselves
without having to attach themselves to another file. The term first appeared in
John Brunner鈥檚 1975 science-fiction story The Shockwave Rider, in which
the hero subverts the all-controlling computer network of a totalitarian
government.
Nowadays, the worms and viruses being unleashed by cybervandals could give
governments an excuse for totalitarian behaviour. The alleged author of Melissa
was tracked down electronically鈥攁pparently using the controversial
identifying tags that are hidden within Microsoft documents and records of
traffic kept by his Internet service provider, America OnLine. The unknown
creator of ExploreZip seems to have been more careful in covering his鈥攐r
丑别谤鈥攖谤补肠办蝉.
Who is going to argue against better electronic tracking if that is the only
way to maintain law and order? If the worms continue to mutate and spread, Big
Brother won鈥檛 be far behind. If we鈥檙e to avoid that sinister prospect, the
average computer user is going to have to become a lot more vigilant. So when
you next receive a friendly e-mail from a colleague with an innocuous-looking
file attachment, check with the sender that the e-mail is genuine before opening
the file.
The message is simple: when it comes to e-mail, trust no one.
