“Microsoft among casualties of destructive Worm.ExploreZip
virus — which combines Melissa’s spread with CIH’s
payload.
Virus writers have managed to combine the reproductive
capabilities of the Melissa worm with the destructive force of the
Chernobyl virus.
In the process, they’ve created malicious code that proliferates
over e-mail based on MAPI (Messaging Application Programming
Interface), such as Microsoft Corp.’s Exchange, and that wipes out
hard drives.
Once opened, the virus, called Worm.ExploreZip, deletes files
off hard drives. Not limited to Exchange, it will piggyback on top
of any MAPI-compliant e-mail system.”
“It has not spread as quickly as Melissa because it does not
search through a user’s entire e-mail directory. …’It picks real
messages to respond to, so it is more subtle than the Melissa
virus…’ “