New virus can wipe out hard drives

An ongoing FBI case has revealed a computer virus that can erase hard drives and dial 911 emergency systems, according to a warning posted on the Web this weekend.

So far, reports of the virus are limited to the Houston, Texas, area and involve four Internet service providers--America Online, MCI WorldCom, AT&T and NetZero--according to the posting by the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC).

The virus causes "victim systems to dial 911, possibly causing emergency authorities to check out substantial numbers of 'false positive' calls," according to yesterday?s posting.

The so-called self-propagating script also can "overwrite victim hard drives," according to the NIPC.

The FBI and NIPC are continuing to investigate the virus. The NIPC brings together representatives from the FBI, other government agencies and the private sector to protect the nation's computer networks.

FBI and NIPC representatives could not be reached for comment.