Virus Attacking Computers in Myanmar Shows ‘Happy Birthday’ Message

In a computer training school in Myanmar, its IT technicians reported that a virus displaying "Happy Birthday" on computer screens has been infecting networks of a number of Internet cafes and several government offices in Myanmar, as reported by THE IRRAWADDY on February 26, 2008.

The technicians also reported that the networks have been temporarily closed down to prevent systems from the virus. One IT technician working at KMD, a private school for computer training, in Rangoon said that the new, "Happy Birthday" virus has started infecting computer networks in the country since the middle of February 2008, as reported by THE IRRAWADDY on February 26, 2008.

The technician further said that the 'Happy Birthday' message appears on the monitor screen immediately after the computer is started, which means that the computer has been attacked. Worse still, no security software available is able to delete or clean it.

The IT technicians say that the virus has also been attacking computers in Myanmar's new capital, Naypyidaw. They also said that authorities have contacted them to reach Naypyidaw to rectify the problem. Moreover, a normal computer user will find it difficult to identify or erase the virus.

As per the news, the virus has been forwarded primarily to the main Internet and e-mail suppliers in the country. As a result, all e-mails that passed through systems of these suppliers carried the virus and infected those computers which have access to the suppliers.

It seems that the virus celebrates a widely known hacker's birthday as he penetrated into Internet suppliers, banks, and government institutions. The virus program showed the nickname of the hacker as "Hacky Birthday!" and continued with a threat. The programming technique is very complex and no known antivirus could possibly detect it.

According to experts, when the virus is activated, it transmits an unidentified Internet address, probably belonging to the virus' creator. As the infection sets on a user's computer, it destroys its File Allocation Table (FAT) and the hard disks - both Primary and Secondary - leaving the computer crippled and without chances of recovery. It also appears that the criminal gangs behind the virus attacks are after financial gain.

Related article: Virus Infects Through USB Drives

» SPAMfighter News - 3/7/2008