Computer hackers hit Middle East summit press center
THURMONT, Maryland, July 17
Computer hackers have breached the US State Department's e-mail distribution system for photographs of the Middle East peace summit, sending a virus to those who have signed up for the service, officials and journalists said Monday.
Reporters and photographers receiving photographs of President Bill Clinton, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at the talks being held at the nearby presidential retreat began receiving the virus Monday morning, they said.
The e-mail messages, bearing the origin of "pd.state.gov" -- the address of the State Department's office of public diplomacy -- have subject lines identifying them as "jokes" or "funny jokes" or "life stages," they said.
If the e-mail message is opened, it unleashes an as-yet unknown virus which can destroy a computer's hard drive as well as forward it to other addresses stored in the user's e-mail system, they said.
"Do not open the attachments no matter who they say they are from," the State Department said in an urgent warning sent to all employees.
It said the virus appeared to have spread throughout the State Department's computer systems and that its own software safeguards were reporting that it could not be "cleaned or deleted".
"It is not clear if the current virus scanning patterns on the network and work stations are really effective, since it appears that some of our own users systems are now forwarding these messages," it said.
Mouafac Harb, a reporter for the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat said he was the first to notice the problem at the press center and alerted officials responsible for sending the e-mails.
"I was suspicious because it said 'jokes and funny jokes' and I don't know anyone at the State Department who has funny jokes," Harb told AFP.
"I wasn't affected though because I intercepted it and told them about it," he said.
A State Department official said all those receiving the photographs by e-mail were being notified of the problem.
"We're telling them all about it now," said the official, who declined to be named.
It was not clear who might have started the virus or what their motive might have been.
Source: AFP
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