TOI: Cellular Phone Users Warned of

[chan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: TOI: Cellular Phone Users Warned of Virus


Cell users warned of virus 

The Times of India, New Delhi
May 21, 1999

               YANGON: The 10,000 users of cellular telephones in
               Myanmar were warned on Thursday that a virus threatens
               to hang them up forever. 

               The Myanmar telecommunications department claimed in a
               warning published by official newspapers that an unnamed
               virus was likely to strike the system through internal and
               external networks and could totally destroy a mobile
               phone. 

               It did not say how or why, nor cite a possible day of attack,
               nor how long the warning should be heeded. Mobile phone
               users were advised to shut off their phones if unusual signs
               other than incoming telephone numbers appear when a call
               comes in. 

               Earlier this month, Lebanon was the victim of a
               fast-travelling rumour that the Chernobyl computer virus,
               which had crippled 600,000 computers worldwide in April,
               would wreak havoc on cellular phones. The virus never hit,
               but the system crashed for a few minutes due to
               overloading when users called friends and warned them to
               shut off their phones. 


--End
The Burma Info/New Delhi