Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 7, 1992                   TAG: 9203070082
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From staff and wire reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

VIRUS DOESN'T LIVE UP TO ITS BILLING

Personal-computer users reported only scattered outbreaks Friday of the Michelangelo virus. The bug was named for the Renaissance artist because it was scheduled to infect on Friday, the 517th anniversary of his birthday.

Michael Alexander, senior editor at ComputerWorld magazine, said he heard at least 50 reports of attacks worldwide. In one of the more serious cases, 300 South African pharmacists lost their data.

The rogue program was designed to destroy data bases on the hard disks of IBM-style machines.

Michelangelo's lack of success at causing computer mayhem could be the result of the early warning about the virus and the efforts of lab operators and owners.

Symantec Corp. said it distributed more than 250,000 free copies worldwide of the Michelangelo edition of its Norton AntiVirus software.

Following the advice of experts who said the virus couldn't infect if the computer clock never hit March 6, some computer operators stayed safe by not turning their machines on Friday.

"Old Michelangelo is welcome anytime," an office worker was overheard saying in a YMCA locker room.

The National Computer Security Association estimated that no more than 20,000 computers could be damaged if no precautions were taken. That's about one in 2,500 of all personal computers in the United States.

"It has been overhyped, without question," said Charles Rutstein, staff researcher for the Washington, D.C.-based association.

Kevin Young, communications spokesman for IBM's Manassas plant, said if any good has come out of the scare, it's that people are being more careful about computer viruses in general.

That's what happened in the Roanoke area.

Michelangelo was a flop, but several businesses and colleges found the Stoned virus, a non-virulent fellow that merely urges users to support the legalization of marijuana.

Mark Bowles, head of the computing support center at Virginia Western Community College, said he also discovered and destroyed another virus called The Pakistani Brain.

Computer viruses sneak into computer systems aboard infected disks or in sabotaged programs copied from electronic bulletin boards. There are more than 1,000 known viruses.

A generic National Computer Security Association profile of a mischief-makers who creates viruses is a white male, age 17 to 28. He is clever but most likely an underachiever, very adept at programming but trying to prove something or get attention.

In other words, he isn't any Michelangelo.