Happy Birthday Melissa!

[kv]

Interesting article in wired .

Quote 1:

"Ah, Sweet Melissa, the wake-up call to all the digitally interconnected denizens of this hapless planet," said security researcher Robert Ferrell. "Melissa almost single-handedly ensured the long-term viability of the antivirus software industry, not to mention triggering the chain of idiocy that eventually led to the linguistic abomination 'cyberterrorism.' Melissa was also the first time that some people considered the possibility that attachments might just be evil incarnate.

"It was the best of code; it was the worst of code."

Quote 2:

"Melissa was the first virus that really hit non-geeky users, and I remember it seemed like everyone was talking about this mysterious new computer thing back in March 1999," said Brooklyn, New York-based systems administrator Tom Finkle.

"Back then, though, for most people a computer virus was new and interesting and a little scary. Now it's just annoying -- we're still saying the same thing each time a virus is released. I bet most of the people who clicked on Melissa five years ago also clicked on MyDoom, Netsky and Bagle virus attachments last week."

Personally, I remember Melissa, and can't believe it's been five years since she first hit the streets. I also can't believe people are still being victimized by viruses using the same basic MO, which is one of the core points of the article.

Anyways, I found it an interesting read and thought I'd post it...

Cheers,
KV

[DuaneB]

And, this was one of the first jokes of its kind.