Part 36 (2/2)
Tuesday, October 13 New York
COMPUTER assAULT CLAIMS VICTIMS by Scott Mason
For the last feeeks the general press and co the destruction to be caused by this year's version of the dreaded Colu yesterday and will continue today, depend- ing upon which version strikes your computer
With all of the folderall by the TV networks and news channels, and the reports of anticipated doo and learn that this paper didn't get printed, my train from the suburbs was rerouted to Calcutta and Manhattan's traffic lights were out of order No such luck
A
That doesn't h There are hundreds of reports of widespread dae to microcomputers everywhere
The Bala Cynwyd, PA medical center lost several weeks of records
Credit Card International was struck in Madrid, Spain and can't figure out which custoland don't knoho their students are, and a University in upstate New York won't be holding computer classes for a while
Willia Confidence in Washi+ngton, DC, downplayed the incident ”We have had re- ports of several small outbreaks, but we have not heard of any particularly devastating incidents It seems that only a few isolated sites were affected”
On the other hand, Bethan Fenster froinia, e was much more wide- spread She says the outbreaks are worse than reported in the press ”I personally know of several Fortune 100 co their systems back in order Some financial institutions have been nearly shut down because their computers are inoperable It's the worst (computer) virus outbreak I've ever seen”
Very few companies would confirm that they had been affected by the Columbus Day Virus ”They won't talk to you,” Ms Fenster said ”If a major company announced publicly that their comput- ers were down due to criminal activity, there would be a certain loss of confidence in that company I understand that they feel a fiduciary responsibility to their stockholders to minimize the effects of this”
Despite Ms Fenster's position, Forsythe Insurance, NorthEast Airlines, Brocker Financial and the Internal Revenue Service all admitted that they have had a 'major' disruption in their comput- er services and expect to take two to six weeks to repair the dae Nonetheless, several of those companies hit, feel lucky
”We only lost about a thousand er at Edison Power ”Considering that we have noour computers at all, we could have been totally put out of business” She said that despite the cost to repair the systeement feels no need to add security or protective measures in the future ”They believe that this was a quirk, a one ti,” Ms
Marie said
Many small companies that said they have almost been put out of business because they were struck by the Columbus Day Virus
”Siel of the Anti-Virus Brigade, a vigilante group who professes to have access to pri- vate information on computer viruses ”Of all of the reports of downed computers yesterday, less than 10 are from the Data Cri it on the virus rather than more common causes like hardware la hit by the virus that has created near hysteria over the last month”
Whatever the truth, it seeuise of politics There isevidence and concern that co the contents of our computers While the effects of the Colus and precautionary measures, and the actual number of infection sites very li attention to the problem
This is Scott Mason, safe, sound and uninfected
Wednesday, October 14 J Edgar Hoover Building, FBI Headquarters Washi+ngton, DC
The sweltering October heat wave of the late Indian sus that surrounded the Mall and the tourist attractions Window air conditioners didn't provide the kind of relief that modern workers were used to So, shi+rtsleeves were rolled up, the nylons came off, and ties were loose if present at all
The streets orse The clierated in Washi+ngton The heat was hot- ter, the huer a five letter word, it was a way of life
Union Station, the grand old train station near the Capitol Building provided little relief The immense volume of air to be cooled was too much for the central air conditioners They were no iv- ing hydrocarbon eant Metroliner he had ridden thisfrom New York's Penn Station, he was drenched in perspiration He discov- ered, to his chagrin, that the cab he had hailed for his ride to headquarters had no air conditioning The stench of the city, and the garbage and the traffic fumes reminded him of home New York