For the third time the "Chernobyl" virus confirmed that anti-virus protection is a must. As mentioned in the warning Kaspersky Labs Int. issued on April 20, the "Chernobyl" virus (also known as Win95.CIH) made its third impact on computer users. The "Chernobyl" virus was discovered in the beginning...
For the third time the "Chernobyl" virus confirmed that anti-virus protection is a must.
As mentioned in the warning Kaspersky Lab Int. issued on April 20, the "Chernobyl" virus (also known as Win95.CIH) made its third impact on computer users.
The "Chernobyl" virus was discovered in the beginning of June 1998. As it became known later it was created by Chen Ing-Hau (CIH are his initials), who was a student at The Tatung Institute of Technology (Taiwan). This was the world's first malicious code able to affect PC's hardware by corrupting the Flash BIOS micro chip. Additionally the virus destroys all data on all local hard disks.
Because of its origin, the "Chernobyl" virus is mostly spread in East and South-East Asia. According to interim reports South Korean Ministry for Information and Communication received about 2000 complaints about the CIH virus.
The virus hasn't missed the rest of the world as well. As anticipated the global impact it made was not as extensive as last year. Most of the reports Kaspersky Lab received on April 26 were from Russia (65 complaints, about 400 affected PCs), Hungary (200 PCs), South Africa (200 PCs), Czechia (40 PCs). Minor incidents (1-15 PCs) were detected in Finland, Norway, Estonia, Sweden, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Greece, Slovenija, Iceland and other countries.
"We are delighted to see that there are much less reports on the CIH virus this year. And we are happy that not even one of our customers reported any problems, because they timely checked their PCs before April 26," said Eugene Kaspersky, Head of Anti-Virus Research at Kaspersky Lab.
Kaspersky Lab will keep you informed about the final results of this year's "Chernobyl meltdown."
