Defense Department systems escaped the recent MiniZip virus, according to technicians at the Defense Information Systems Agency.
'The I-Worm.ExplorerZip.pack had less impact than Melissa on DOD,' said Bobbie Stempfley, chief of the DOD Computer Emergency Response Team. I-Worm.ExplorerZip.pack, also known as MiniZip, was a variant of June's I-Worm.ExplorerZip.
MiniZip spreads through Microsoft Messaging Application Programming Interface e-mail. It began appearing last month. The virus overwrites files with seven extensions, including .doc, .ppt and .xls, according to ICSA.net, a computer security association in Carlisle, Pa.
Working with Network Associates Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., and Symantec Corp. of Cupertino, Calif., which hold DOD enterprise licensing contracts for antivirus software, DISA tested and updated software patches that DOD organizations could use to avert MiniZip, Stempfley said.