9-4-95. NYPaper: "Computers Beware! New Type of Virus Is Loose on the Net." A new and deceptively simple type of computer virus, one that can sneak past security devices by hitching rides on electronic mail and other common Internet files, is causing deep concern among computer security officials around the world. Mr. Schmidt of Sun says, "There are criminals in the world and some of them are programmers. With computer networks, they have an amplifying effect that they've never had before. If I were a criminal with a gun, I might attack one person. But with a computer network, I can attack a million people at a time. It's like an atomic bomb." To avert a potential disaster, Mr. Schmidt has enlisted three of the world's top computer security experts, including Tsutomo Shimomura, Dan Farmer and Whitfield Diffie. "Cybervirus Whodunit: Who Creates This Stuff?" Ms. Gordon conducted detailed interviews, by electronic mail, Internet chat, telephone and in person, with more than 60 virus writers. "The virus writer has been characterized by some as a bad, evil, depraved, maniac, terrorist, technopathic, genius gone mad, sociopath." This, she said, "is a gross oversimplification of the situation." "Dick Tracy, Eat Your Heart Out." Move over, Captain Midnight. Heads up, Mata Hari. Now anyone can have a real-life decoder ring. The ring has a computer chip encoded with an identification number that gives the wearer access to secret computer files or locked rooms. The chip transmits your secret ID number or data at the space-age speed of 16,000 bits a second. Triplets: MAN_iax