“A new quick-spreading computer virus that can reformat a
victim’s computer hard drive on Christmas has been detected, and
already appears to have cropped up on three continents… at least
10 Fortune 500 companies scattered across Europe, the United States
and Australia called in reports about the virus…”
“Like Melissa, the virus comes as an attachment in an email.
Once opened, the virus will email itself to the first 50 addresses
in an infected computer’s email contact list… But unlike its
predecessors,… Prilissa carries a destructive kick. If opened, a
user’s hard drive could get re-configured.”
“The virus appears in mailboxes purporting to be a message from
the last infected user… The document itself can be whatever
Microsoft Word file the last victim was using when the virus sent
itself out, raising the risk that confidential documents could
accidentally be released to a huge number of people.”