Don’t panic, but Internet users who have accepted files from other users without knowing what they are have put themselves – and everything on their computers – at risk.

Friday, March 17, 2000

Don’t panic, but Internet users who have accepted files from other users without knowing what they are have put themselves – and everything on their computers – at risk.

Some folks have accepted files via transfer in chat programs like ICQ and IRC. Others simply have had e-mails arrive with attachments that they’ve double clicked to execute. Once executed, these files bury themselves into the background workings of the computer and then wreak havoc.

This week, several teen-agers in Austin were arrested and had their computers seized by police for purposefully spreading one of these viruses.

"We had a computer brought in because it had problems between the scanner and the computer," Wayne Goodnature of PST Computing explained. "We’d sold the system in September, and we went out on-site because these folks were having so many problems. In the course of running routine diagnostics, we found software used to hack other computers."

In this case, PST found software that takes advantage of the ICQ chat program to create a back door into an affected user’s computer. Once hackers have propped open this back door, the affected computer is vulnerable to having information stolen from it, or even having parts of the operating system deleted.

"We recognized this computer had, and had been using, the attack part of this software. I gave (County Attorney) Pat Oman a call and we discussed it," Goodnature said. "Our immediate concern was had there been any businesses in the county damaged by this. And it is a form of espionage."

Goodnature acknowledged that it is not the ICQ software itself which is at fault. Hackers have simply written some excellent code to take advantage of the nature of the chat program, once a victim has run a virus file like PrettyPark.exe to damage or just spy on the use of the affected computer.

Some folks may receive ICQ messages from people they’ve never talked to before, asking them why they are visiting the Web site they are currently at. Others may find their mouse working backward, or the screen suddenly appearing upside-down.

"One man had about $150 damage done to his machine because the operating system was inaccessible. Really, though it can be nearly anything," Goodnature said.

PST has found a new sideline business, too, investigating the machines seized by the Austin Police Department.

For those who fear they may have PrettyPark or other viruses, simply updating their virus software likely will be enough to then diagnose and get rid of the virus itself.