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        MAYHEM AT FIRMS PLAGUED BY VIRUS
                By Philip Braund

        Published in The Mirror newspaper
                 March 7th 1992

   Transcribed for the H/P world by Phantasm
 
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DATA was whiped from thousands of computers as
the Michelangelo virus finally struck yesterday.

  At least 16 British firms were hit by the 
electronic bug and experts reckoned it affected
10,000 systems throughout the world.

  Staff at a business in London watched in horror
at 100 screens went blank. British expert Edward
Wilding said: "I've never known such a serious
loss of data due to a virus."

  Files also disappeared in more than 1,000
computers in 500 South African companies. But
generally the damage was less than predicted 
because firms made copies of their data or used 
special programs to destroy the virus.

  Devised by a mischievous boffin and spread by
"infected" floppy disks, it was triggered as
computers clocks ticked into the 517th 
anniversary of Italian artist Michelangelo's
birthday.

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Happy birthday Michelangelo...

