The Mirrodin virus that overwhelmed internet forums around the world is one of the fastest growing viruses ever.

Net service giant AOL said it had stopped more than 43.2 million forum replies since previews first appeared on September 1st.

The virus is said to have been started by malicious hackers posing as ‘n00bs’ in Magic: the Gathering forums. The hackers would post short messages, such as “OMFG!!!! this is SOOOOOO BROKEN!!!!” that would then trigger millions of responses bringing the internet to a standstill.

Big Hitter

Hundreds of thousands of home users and businesses have been hit by the “Isochron Scepter” version of the Mirrodin virus over the past couple of days. At one point every one in three forum posts intercepted by security firm MassageLabs included the infected text “forget Ancestral Recall, how about Time Walk? Watch this artifact get insta-banned in T1 before it even becomes tourney legal”. Later that same day a new strain of the virus sprang up, known as Welchi-Mirrodin it attempted to help users by posting the message “it doesn’t do sorceries, duh!” and then connected the user’s computer to the DCI website and attempted to download the MTG comprehensive rulebook.

Evil

The virus tries to fool people into opening it by regularly changing its subject line to an obscure three card combo involving a new card and adding the suffix “BAH-ROKEN”. But what may have helped Mirrodin spread is the fact that it can be hard for people to be sure they are infected. Home users can avoid infection by updating their anti-virus software and by being suspicious of obscure and ill-thought-out combos from people they do not know well.

Search

Police in the US believe they have traced the source of the virus to an underground ring of disgruntled ex-marines, led by a mentally unstable veteran known only as Maro. Police spokesman, Dep. Supt. Jeff Beaver would only confirm that Maro, Brian David Marshall, Victor Van Den Broek and Anthony Alongi had been brought in for questioning. Mr. Alongi was later released without charge.

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!

The Mirrodin virus that overwhelmed internet forums around the world is one of the fastest growing viruses ever.

Net service giant AOL said it had stopped more than 43.2 million forum replies since previews first appeared on September 1st.

The virus is said to have been started by malicious hackers posing as ‘n00bs’ in Magic: the Gathering forums. The hackers would post short messages, such as “OMFG!!!! this is SOOOOOO BROKEN!!!!” that would then trigger millions of responses bringing the internet to a standstill.

Big Hitter

Hundreds of thousands of home users and businesses have been hit by the “Isochron Scepter” version of the Mirrodin virus over the past couple of days. At one point every one in three forum posts intercepted by security firm MassageLabs included the infected text “forget Ancestral Recall, how about Time Walk? Watch this artifact get insta-banned in T1 before it even becomes tourney legal”. Later that same day a new strain of the virus sprang up, known as Welchi-Mirrodin it attempted to help users by posting the message “it doesn’t do sorceries, duh!” and then connected the user’s computer to the DCI website and attempted to download the MTG comprehensive rulebook.

Evil

The virus tries to fool people into opening it by regularly changing its subject line to an obscure three card combo involving a new card and adding the suffix “BAH-ROKEN”. But what may have helped Mirrodin spread is the fact that it can be hard for people to be sure they are infected. Home users can avoid infection by updating their anti-virus software and by being suspicious of obscure and ill-thought-out combos from people they do not know well.

Search

Police in the US believe they have traced the source of the virus to an underground ring of disgruntled ex-marines, led by a mentally unstable veteran known only as Maro. Police spokesman, Dep. Supt. Jeff Beaver would only confirm that Maro, Brian David Marshall, Victor Van Den Broek and Anthony Alongi had been brought in for questioning. Mr. Alongi was later released without charge.

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!