A new computer virus wreaked havoc on PCs and notebooks around the world yesterday, landing in Taiwan as people booted up their workstations in the early morning hours.
The WORM_GONE.A virus deletes computer files and attacks anti-virus software. Once the anti-virus software is disabled, the worm can have its way with an entire system.
"It hasn't been as bad in Taiwan as it was in the States," said John DeRiso, director of corporate marketing at Trend Micro Inc (
Trend Micro issued a global alert yesterday after the virus hit North American and European clients.
"Our tech support manager attributed the low incidence in Taiwan to the fact that the e-mail message and subject line are in English [more likely to raise user's suspicions], and that the user must click on the attachment to get infected via e-mail -- unlike Badtrans and other viruses, which could spread simply by reading or previewing the e-mail .... Presumably these reasons also account for the very low incidence in Japan and China," DeRiso said.
"The patches [software to protect against the bug] came during the night or early in the morning here," he said.
Business people were concerned about the alert.
Trend Micro received about 20 calls from corporate customers, some who had been hit by the virus and others who just wanted the latest information.
The virus deletes hard drive information, and therefore it is imperative to get rid of it as quickly as possible, Trend Micro said.
It spreads through Microsoft Outlook and the ICQ messenger program.
When spread via e-mail, the accompanying attachment is named "GONE.SCR."
A not-so-benign messageSubject: HiHow are you?When I saw this screen saver, I immediately thought about you. I am in a harry, I promise you will love it!
Virus Alert
The ``WORM_GONE.A'' virus wreaked havoc on PCs and notebooks yesterday. When sent as an e-mail, it comes with an attachment labeled ``GONE.SCR.''
The e-mail message says the attachment is a screensaver.
Another serious virus people should watch for is called Bad Trans (WORM_BADTRANS.A), which hit Taiwan a few weeks ago.
Getting protection
Those who are unsure whether or not their computers need debugging can go to Trend Micro's Web site, www.antivirus.com, where an online program, ``Housecall,'' can check for and clean the virus.
"The virus really was centered in Europe and the US, but people here were getting it this morning as people started work," DeRiso said.
Like the last few viruses to circumnavigate the globe, by the time Taiwanese workers turned on computers and checked e-mail, most had already been warned by news reports and could find anti-virus software to sort it out.
Another serious virus people should watch for is called Bad Trans (WORM_BADTRANS.A).
The virus hit a few weeks ago and could still be infecting many computers.
Instead of deleting files, the virus keeps a low profile while it steals passwords, credit card numbers and other information from a computer by keeping track of every key stroke typed into the system.
Those who are unsure whether or not their computers need debugging can go to Trend Micro's Web site, www.antivirus.com, where an online program, "Housecall," will check and clean your computer.
DeRiso said updates for PC-Cillin users can be downloaded from the site.
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