From Thursday, May 4
News Story
Details From AP
Hatch Calls Virus Wake Up Call

May 5, 2000

That computer virus is back, and this time with aliases. Yesterday the virus proclaimed "I love you" in the subject line. Today the message is "very funny" or "joke." But the FBI and computer users are not laughing. In fact, the FBI says it has a suspect in the Philippines. Jim Hanchett reports from Washington.

As the FBI's computer whizzes try to track down the origin of the love bug virus, the case is taking on a new and malicious twist. With a couple of criminal keystrokes overnight, the virus that first popped up on screens was retitled and is once again spreading around the globe, hitting one of Australia's biggest e-mail providers.

Justin Milne/ General Manager of OzEmail Provider: "So far we've got three instances. It comes as "I love you" or it comes as "Sasidakim" or it also comes with the subject "Joke"."

At the FBI, investigators say they're not surprised by the mutations.

Michael Vatis/ FBI: "Viruses are typically not all together new in the way they spread or in their destructive impact. They're ususally an evolution from the last major virus."

Vatis says phrases embedded in the computer code indicate the love bug started in the Philippines. They have a suspect, but have made no arrests.

Meanwhile, anti-virus experts from Romania to the U.S. are scrambling to develop antidotes and are distributing them today. But computer experts say cyber vandals could keep devising mutations of the virus, making stored graphics and music and e-mail systems on Microsoft systems and products vulnerable for weeks to come.