IP: NATO creates computer virus that reveals its secrets: Risks Digest 20.93

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2000 12:31:38 -0400
> From: Monty Solomon <monty () roscom com>
> Subject: NATO creates computer virus that reveals its secrets
>
> Bungling NATO scientists have created a computer virus "by mistake", causing
> military secrets to find their way onto the internet.  The virus, called
> Anti-Smyser 1, was created by scientists at NATO'S Kfor peacekeeping force
> headquarters in Pristina, Kosovo.  They were seeking protection from virus
> attacks similar to those launched at NATO by the Serbs during the Kosovo
> conflict.  But the experiment went wrong, and scientists accidentally
> unleashed the virus on themselves.  The virus, which plucks documents from
> the hard drives of computers and sends invisible attachments to e-mails,
> recently resurfaced at the Czech ministry of defence.
> http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/06/18/stinwenws01024.html