Virus Infects WSU Computers

Thu., April 29, 1999

Washington State University lost 34 computers to the Chernobyl virus this week.

The Chernobyl virus, which can destroy a computer and is also know as “CIH,” infected computers in Todd Hall and several residence halls, WSU officials said Wednesday.

The viruses, believed to originate in Taiwan, attempt to erase a computer’s hard drive and mess up the computer’s system settings, called its BIOS, preventing the machine from being restarted.

“This is the busiest time of the year,” WSU Spokesman Hugh Imhof said. “There are a lot of students who are scrambling to get their work done.”

The computers will only take about 20 minutes to fix, once the new BIOS chips arrive.

Earlier this month, WSU was the target of computer hackers who accessed passwords and diverted some Web sites.

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