US ARMY TROUBLED BY COMPUTER VIRUSES WHILE IN BOSNIA

August 26, 1996

Writing in an article entitled "US Army Seeks Computer Antivirus Plan"
in the August 26 issue of _Defense News_ magazine, reporter
Pat Cooper reveals the US Army suffered from serious computer virus
infections while deployed in Bosnia.

Infections by Monkey, AntiEXE and Prank Macro caused computer software
malfunctions and related problems which "forced Army personnel to waste 
hundreds of hours finding the viruses and cleaning them from the 
systems . . ."  Apparently, imperfect Monkey virus removals also resulted 
in non-critical data being lost from infected hard disks.

The widespread dispersal of the viruses on Army computers in Bosnia
have catalyzed a review of informations systems procedures and could
have implications for all future force deployments, servicewide, 
according to Cooper and Defense News.

Army Captain Steve Warnock told Cooper that while virus computer trouble
was widespread, it affected only "nonsensitive data and did not adversely
affect the Bosnian mission."

Army officials pressed for solid recommendations that all computers
be checked for computer viruses prior to future deployments.  One
recommendation also suggested the maintenance of an on-line site from
which Army personnel could download anti-virus software while in
the field.

Pat Cooper commented to Crypt Newsletter that the US Army had used
IBM Anti-virus and McAfee Associates software while in Bosnia.


Crypt Newsletter 
Pasadena, CA
http://www.soci.niu.edu/~crypt
