Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!aplcen!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sunybcs!dsinc!netnews.upenn.edu!vax1.cc.lehigh.edu!cert.sei.cmu.edu!krvw From: 76304.1407@CompuServe.COM (Ray Glath) Newsgroups: comp.virus Subject: Re: First Documented sighting of the "4096" virus in the U.S.A. (PC) Message-ID: <0011.9007231332.AA22186@ubu.cert.sei.cmu.edu> Date: 20 Jul 90 18:55:18 GMT Sender: Virus Discussion List Lines: 76 Approved: krvw@sei.cmu.edu > Date: Mon, 16 Jul 90 15:44:31 -0700 > From: Alan_J_Roberts@cup.portal.com > Subject: 4096 virus information (PC) > The following is a forward from John McAfee: > ======================================================================== > Raymond Glath's posting about the 4096 in Dallas implied that > this was the first documented case of the 4096 here in the States. > Far from it. I reported the first DOCUMENTED sighting of this virus in the U.S. because a retail computer dealer... James Rich of James Rich Computers in Corsicana TX... was willing to stand up and admit to having the infection in an effort to slow its spread in the Dallas area. Prior to my posting, no-one has reported this virus' appearance in the U.S. on Virus-L, and the emergence of this virus in the U.S. IS a significant event that needs attention. What is of PRIME IMPORTANCE is that all of us in the virus research community know when we've got a new problem to deal with, and one of the reasons for Virus-L's existance is to provide a vehicle for this type of information. As recently as July 2nd, Dave Chess from IBM asked if anyone had any reports on the 4k virus since he'd been hearing rumors about its spread, especially in Israel. A response from Y. Radai stated that the 4k has been creating problems in Israel for about a year. John McAfee offered no response to the query from Dave Chess. And now he tells us: > The 4096 was first detected at Washington University > in St. Louis nearly 6 months ago and since then has been reported > at over 100 sites involving many thousands of computers. > Some well > publicized incidents of recent infections include the entire > Monterrey PC User's group (through an infected distribution > diskette), 13 Burger King franchises in Scotts Valley, CA and Santa > Cruz, numerous IRS offices in Seattle and one of the nation's > largest banks based in Houston. I have spoken with several people at the Northern California Burger King Corporate group that supports franchises. They were not aware of any virus problem at the franchise sites in their area. For a final resolution on this, I am awaiting a return call from the Operational V. P. in that office. I also spoke with Mr. Tim Thompson of the "End User Support Group" at the IRS in Seattle. Mr. Thompson was unaware of ANY virus problems at the IRS offices other than some Mac viruses last year and his own personal experience with the Disk Killer virus several months ago, which he eliminated before it spread to other systems. By the way, it seems the IRS has ONE office in Seattle. What gives here ????? Ray Glath ps: According to a recent conversation with my colleagues in Europe, the 4k virus has been causing problems in the U.K. for about the last 2 months... pps: This is a heavily revised posting. Ken van Wyk censored my original response, which has been sent to John McAfee as private mail. [Ed. Ray asked me to check for the record - a quick grep through the v-l archives turned up one previous report of a 4096 infection, at Weizmann Univ. in Israel.]