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Virus Knocks Out U.S. Visa Approval System

Posted by timothy on from the tax-funded-monoculture-gets-blight dept.

GillBates0 writes "According to this story and many others, the State Department's electronic system for checking every visa applicant for terrorist or criminal history failed worldwide late Tuesday because of a computer virus, leaving the U.S. government unable to issue visas. The virus crippled the department's Consular Lookout and Support System, known as CLASS, which contains, among others, names of at least 78,000 suspected terrorists. It was unclear which computer virus might have affected the system. But a separate message sent to embassies and consular offices late Tuesday warned that the Welchia virus had been detected in one facility. Welchia is an aggressive infection unleashed last month that exploits a software flaw in recent versions of Microsoft Windows."

5 of 439 comments (clear)

  1. Re:DOH! by winstarman · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    credit card? read closer.

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    Hard loop..... huh?

    Dynamic Designs
  2. DOH! DOH! by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I think I speak for every /. skimmer when I say, DOH!
    Again, this is why I am switching to art... all those similar words (like VISA, visa) are confusing to me :)

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    stuff |
  3. So what? by bgarcia · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    That's ok. I'll just get an American Express card instead.

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    I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
  4. Re:78 THOUSAND suspected terrorists? by merlin_jim · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    In many ways these people's rights are now forfeit.

    Bullshit. These people are foreign citizens; what rights exactly do they have in the sovereignity of the United States that are now forfeit? All the rights guaranteed to them by national and international law are still in place; the only thing being denied them is entry into the United States, and if you're not a citizen of the US, you have no RIGHT to come here...

    This got modded as a troll last time. I'm not trolling. Read the mod guidelines. I am seriously asking, what rights do these people have that are forfeit? I can't think of a single right that they had that being on this list denies them...

    Modding down a post that you disagree with as a troll is an abuse of mod power. If you don't agree, then respond.

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    I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
  5. OK, there's three by Jack+Auf · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    We covered the Windows Virus-of-the-Week(tm), EU software patents, and Verisign. But where are todays SCO, linux on odd/small device, spammers get theirs, and Knoppix stories?

    (And what the hell is is with /. ed's and Knoppix? Do they friends on the Knoppix team or something?)

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    "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety" - BF