MS ships CD-ROM with virus
Microsoft has shipped CD-ROMs infected with a little-known virus to nearly 10,000 software developers and trainers worldwide since September.
The software giant said its Solution Provider CD, a disc provided to consultants who customize Microsoft software for business customers, has been infected with a new and little-known virus named Wazzu, which attaches itself to Microsoft Word documents. Instead of destroying the files, it inserts the word "Wazzu" or rearranges up to three words in the text of the files, according to a report in the New York Times.
Since it was discovered this month, Microsoft said it has notified developers of the virus and posted information advising how to deal with it to a private forum for solution providers on the Microsoft Network.
The Wazzu virus resides in a "solutions in action case study" file, one of 122 files on the disc. It turned up in 14,000 of the CDs after a company hired by Microsoft to replicate the disc missed the virus in routine testing. It can be spread through Windows-based email.
The company said none of Microsoft's consumer software has been infected.