“A new virus is actively spreading itself across the Internet,
taking advantage of users’ email address books to replicate
“extremely quickly,” according to one expert.”
“The virus, W97M_Melissa, uses a combination of Microsoft Word
macros and Microsoft Outlook to send a list of 80 pornographic Web
sites. It works with either Word 97 or Word 2000…”
“Because the virus sends itself to potentially thousands of
contacts contained in a user’s address distribution list, however,
there’s a possibility that the virus could overwhelm mail
servers.”
“Network Associates estimated the virus has already hit hundreds
of thousands of computers.”