Friday 13th virus ‘in N.Z. soon’

Press, 17 January 1989, Page 26

Friday 13th virus ‘in N.Z. soon’

PA Wellington The “Friday the 13th” computer virus, which has infected computers world wide, will appear in New Zealand soon, researchers at Victoria University’s computing services centre say.

The researchers had not yet received any reports of the virus, which originated in England, but expected to, the co-ordi-nator, Dr Jim Baitaxe, said.

The virus becomes active every Friday the 13th and then starts to corrupt computer systems. Viruses are computer programmes which can copy themselves and jump from one computer disc to another causing malfunctions, such as rogue messages to appear on screen, and files to be erased. Dr Baitaxe said once the centre received a copy of the Friday the 13th virus, understood to delete files at random, they would be able to work on ways to neutralise it, he said.

Time-related viruses were particularly sinister because they had so much time to spread before becoming active. If the Friday the 13th virus was found in New Zealand it would be the first of that type reported here. Putting the computer clock on to the 14th, avoiding the 13th, was not a solution because a lot of software needed a system date; and the virus would not be destroyed, Dr Baltaxe said.

Operators who forgot to change the clock when the next Friday fell on the 13th would activate the virus.

In December, two computer viruses, nVir and Scores, were found at Databank Systems, and the infected computer terminals had to be isolated. The nVir instructed the computer to say “hullo” on screen while the Scores virus had been designed to find and destroy a particular brand of software. It was thought unlikely the brand was used in New Zealand, he said.

Some viruses started out as practical jokes not meant to cause harm.

A small proportion had been used as a way of protecting software from illegal copying, while others were made by people wanting to demonstrate their computer skills.

Although viruses were a problem, people were being cautious, and they were not about to wipe out all computers in New Zealand, Dr Baitaxe said. Computer software was often copied from computer bulletin boards, which are contacted by telephone, and viruses could be picked up there. People should be careful to check where software has been before copying, back-up their files regularly, and use write protection tabs. Although operators cannot be completely protected from viruses, damage can be minimised, and recovery made quicker by using safe computer practices, Dr Baitaxe said.