Spread
The worm first appeared on 20 January 1999. Media reports of the worm started coming in from the United States and Europe, in addition to numerous complaints on newsgroups from users that had become infected with the worm. Asia Pulse reported 74 cases of the virus from Japan in February, and 181 cases were reported in March—a monthly record at the time. On 3 March 1999, a Tokyo job company accidentally sent 4000 copies of the virus to 30 universities in Japan.
Dan Schrader of Trend Micro said that Happy99 was the single most commonly reported virus in their system for the month of March. A virus bulletin published in February 2000 reported that Happy99 caused reports of file-infecting malware to reach over 16% in April 1999. Sophos listed Happy99 among the top ten viruses reported in the year of 1999. Eric Chien, head of research at Symantec, reported that the worm was the second most reported virus in Europe for 2000. Marius Van Oers, a researcher for Network Associates, referred to Happy99 as "a global problem", saying that it was one of the most commonly reported viruses in 1999. When virus researcher Craig Schmugar posted a fix for the virus on his website, a million people downloaded it.
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Famous quotes containing the word spread:
“The more rapidly truth is spread among mankind the better it will be for them. Only let us be sure that it is the truth.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“But all he did was spread the room
Of our enacting out the doom
Of being in each other’s way,
And so put off the weary day
When we would have to put our mind
On how to crowd but still be kind.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“yet it seems
Life scarce can cast a fragrance on the wind,
Scarce spread a glory to the morning beams,
But the torn petals strew the garden plot;
And there’s but common greenness after that.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)