Last week the Bulletin Today published a short article about the ‘BubbleBoy’ virus, which can infect computers through e-mail messages. Earlier viruses spread through e-mail required the opening of attachments to infect computers; all ‘BubbleBoy’ requires is reading e-mail messages themselves.
Computing and Communication Services reports that this virus has not yet been seen “in the wild”; it’s still in the computer-virus equivalent of a test tube. When it does start to circulate, CCS automatically will filter incoming e-mail and block messages that show signs of infection. The filtering is not expected to cause problems for anyone.
This virus exploits a security hole in Internet Explorer versions 4 and 5, and also can be transmitted through Web pages. If you have a PC at home, it is strongly recommended that you download and install a “patch” to prevent this virus’ transmission. It takes less than five minutes. Instructions can be found at http://department.stthomas.edu/ccs/www-virus/bubbleboy.htm.
As always, contact the CCS Help Desk with any questions or concerns you might have: (651) 962-6230.