Chernobyl virus hits campus computers
Undeclared UA freshman Meredith La Rue said her efforts at writing two chemistry reports, an 11-page English journal and a seven-page paper went to waste Monday when the Chernobyl virus infected her computer.
"Anything I ever had was erased," La Rue said. "Luckily, none of the hardware itself was damaged."
By Monday evening, the saved documents on La Rue's hard drive, as well as the assignments that are due this week, were wiped out as the Chernobyl virus ran its course.
The virus, which originated in Taiwan, was reportedly released April 26 - the 13th anniversary of the Chernobyl explosion. By infecting Microsoft Windows 1995 or 1998, the virus attacks a computer's hard drive and writes gibberish into the system to prevent the machine from being restarted.
About four University of Arizona students called the Center for Computing and Information Technology and reported that their computers have been infected by the virus.
"They (students) have to be vigilant about what happened and call," said Viji Muralidharan, CCIT's systems management coordinator.
Up to three dozen UA students have called asking how to protect themselves from the virus, which is detected and stonewalled by every major anti-virus software package.
Students with problems or questions can call the CCIT help desk at 621-HELP 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
Muralidharan said worried students can receive preventative software free from the anti-virus company Dr. Solomon's, which has a contract with CCIT.
"As a student, you don't have to pay a dime," she said.
The virus, spread by running an infected program on a computer, could potentially be infected by any outside program.
"I was hit when I was in the process of writing," said MIS freshman Joel Yu, who added that he lost the terms paper to the Chernobyl virus.
Yu said he lost seven term papers on the computer, including one due Friday.
"They're (term papers) irreplaceable," he said. "That's what hits the most."
He estimated the virus has caused him about one or two days extra work.
"I have to get everything back," Yu said. "I don't really have that time."
La Rue, who is re-doing her homework on a friend's unaffected computer, said she advises students to save everything on a disk and the hard drive. La Rue also said students should pay attention to virus notices.
"I didn't think it would affect me, but it has," she said, adding that a friend sent her an e-mail warning about the Chernobyl's virus, but she overlooked it.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
|
