Software Viruses

ALSO CALLED: e-Mail Viruses, Hoaxes, IM Virus, PC Viruses, Internet Chain Letters, Email Viruses, IM Viruses, Computer Viruses, Boot Viruses, Viruses, Variants, Mytob, File Infecting Viruses, e-Mail Virus, Encrypted Viruses, Virus Hoaxes, Zotob, Self-replicating Viruses, Netsky
DEFINITION: The ILOVEYOU virus comes in an e-mail note with "I LOVE YOU" in the subject line and contains an attachment that, when opened, results in the message being re-sent to everyone in the recipient's Microsoft Outlook address book and, perhaps more seriously, the loss of every JPEG, MP3, and certain other files on the recipient's hard disk. Because Microsoft Outlook is widely installed as the e-mail handler  … 
Definition continues below.

SOFTWARE VIRUSES DEFINITION (continued): …  in corporate networks, the ILOVEYOU virus can spread rapidly from user to user within a corporation. On May 4, 2000, the virus spread so quickly that e-mail had to be shut down in a number of major enterprises such as the Ford Motor Company. The virus reached an estimated 45 million users in a single day. The attachment in the ILOVEYOU virus is a VBScript program that, when opened (for example, by double-clicking on it with your mouse), finds the recipient's Outlook address book and re-sends the note to everyone in it. It then overwrites (and thus destroys) all files of the following file … 
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