A computer virus disguised as a photo attachment to an e-mail is making its way through University computers.
The “my party” virus reads “new photos from my party” in the subject line and contains an attachment which will infect the recipients computer if opened.
President’s Office executive assistant Becky Couch-Goodling said administrators have been “on alert” to watch out for the virus since Monday morning, when a computer technician notified them.
Some University students, faculty and staff received the virus through University listserves, including the Outdoor Program and the Honors College.
The virus, which spreads through the e-mail program Microsoft Outlook, will only run on PCs with Microsoft Windows, Distributed Network computing consultant Patrick Chinn said. Macintosh computers are not affected by the virus, he said.
When the virus is sent to an Outlook e-mail account, it will also be sent to everyone in the recipients address book, he said.
According to the Internet security corporation Symantec, the virus is an “e-mail worm” which can open a “backdoor” for computer hackers to gain entry to a computer.
The virus is “not written to do a lot of damage,” Chinn said.
If the attachment is opened and the virus infects the computer, the virus can be removed by scanning files with Norton Anti-Virus and deleting files containing the phrase “my party.” Before scanning with the anti-virus program, run LiveUpdate to make sure the program contains current virus information.
For assistance removing the virus, contact the Computing Center at 346-4412.
— Kara Cogswell