Computer Virus File Sharing Alert (short story)

Computer Virus File Sharing Alert, prefixed as PRESS STATEMENT: Computer Virus File Sharing Alert on the story's page, was a short story released on the U.N.I.T. website as part of the UNIT Press Briefings series of in-universe, narrative press briefings.

Plot
In a press briefing set for immediate release on 10 March 2005, UNIT warns Internet users of an "alarming" file-sharing virus, named "RUFFCUT", which learns what a given individual is interested in, then disguises itself as something that the given individual would want to download; once downloaded, the virus releases a "catastrophic payload".

The briefing quotes UNIT's IT/AT Liaison, Lt D Judd, who explains the deadliness of the virus, its fast growth, its then-unknown damage and the impact on the Internet itself, slowing it down to an alarming degree. The virus, in just the past hour, has already shut down the networks of "a hospital and three government departments across Europe and brought the traffic systems in Lisbon to a halt." Judd politely asks Internet users not to pirate anything off the Internet to help prevent its spread.

The writer of the briefing then states that any updates will be posted as soon as they are available.

Characters

 * Lieutenant D Judd

Continuity

 * to be added