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Internet virus wreaks havoc in Majuro
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Posted on Jan 16 2001
MAJURO, Marshall Islands (Pacific Islands Report)—Computer viruses are at “epidemic proportions” in Majuro, says local computer troubleshooter Steve Whitehead.
He said he’s been extremely busy the past several weeks disinfecting computers at local businesses and government agencies.
“Virtually anyone who has Internet access has a virus,” he said.
Many viruses – including some titled “Snow White” and “Hahaha” – are coming in via e-mail.
National Telecommunications Authority deputy general manager Tommy deBrum said a “kakworm” virus destroyed his hard drive.
“I’m sending my computer off-island to clean and repair it,” he said. “It’s bad.”
He said that the Marshalls had largely escaped many of the viruses that were sweeping computers around the world over the past couple of years.
But since November, more and more have been pouring in via e-mail.
Many of the viruses are designed to attach to a computer’s e-mail address book so that a person will unknowingly send out the viruses to people they communicate with.
Because the Marshalls is so small, a virus gets transmitted easily and quickly to everyone in town, deBrum said.
The scary development, Whitehead said, is that some of these generic viruses are now being modified by people specifically targeting the Marshall Islands.
A virus software protection company has rated these viruses as “medium” level problems. They’ll disable certain programs in your computer, causing disruptions, he said.
If people don’t have virus protection software, you can be certain they’ve got viruses in their computer,” he said. “I’ve been taking 20 to 50 viruses off computers.”
People’s curiosity leads many to open e-mail attachments containing viruses, he noted. Whitehead said that there is software available from Internet sources that can be used to remove viruses.
