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DATE=4/5/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=LOVE VIRUS (L-UPDATE) NUMBER=2-262013 BYLINE=JIM RANDLE DATELINE=PENTAGON CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: If you get a computer e-mail message entitled "I love you," hit the delete key -- quickly! Experts say the enticing message is probably a nasty computer virus that is causing chaos for computer users around the world. As V-O-A's Jim Randle reports, even some of the people who help guard the Pentagon's computer networks have been affected by the "love bug." TEXT: If a computer user opens a message with the "I love you" computer virus, the errant program will seek out the user's e-mail address book, and send duplicate messages to every name in the book. The result is an electronic form of reproduction that threatens to disable computer networks around the world by overloading them with millions of extra messages. The press spokesman for the U-S Military's center for computer network defense, Major Perry Nouis, says the virus does more than just cause traffic jams on the information superhighway. /// Nouis Act /// It's much more mischievous in the fact that it actually affects files on individual computer systems. In goes in and overwrites (erases) files, it will mirror or duplicate files, and it will corrupt data. It is a virus that is pretty much insidious. /// End Act /// Major Nouis says Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado had to shut down its e-mail system because of the virus. The base is home to some of the experts who guard the Air Force's thousands of computer networks. It is a few kilometers down the road from the North American Air Defense Command, the group that scans the skies for attacking ballistic missiles. Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon says the virus also affected computer networks at the military headquarters, but he insists no weapons or secrets were affected. /// Bacon Act /// (There is) absolutely no evidence this has infected any classified (secret) computer networks. /// End Act /// It did, however, affect the non-secret computer networks used for routine business in many military and government offices, including the C-I-A and the White House. Officials at the White House and the intelligence agency say the virus attack was spotted quickly and corrected before it had any noticeable affect on the day's work. Officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation say they have opened a criminal investigation of the virus attack. The British Parliament had to shut down its e-mail service for a while to slow the spread of the annoying program, and the U-S Congress also reported some problems with its computer systems. Virus attacks by the new computer bug are also reported by businesses around the world, the U-S Army in Europe, the Voice of America office in Washington, and many businesses in Britain, Denmark, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and the United States. One report says the virus first appeared in the Philippines capital, Manila. Computer experts say the virus seems to hit Microsoft e-mail programs particularly hard. They say users can protect themselves by deleting, rather than opening, messages labeled "I love you." (Signed) NEB/JR/JP 04-May-2000 17:13 PM EDT (04-May-2000 2113 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .