February 2004

Another day, another worm

The last few weeks have seen a spate of email-borne computer worms. What's been unusual this time is that with MyDoom and its successors, we're seeing the virus in the wild well before the antivirus vendors have updates available. This is a trend which should wake up the antivirus companies and users. Some vendors have a weekly update cycle, with extra antivirus patterns only being released when a virus has been seen in large numbers in the wild. Too little, too late. What's needed is defence in depth. All ISPs should scan all emails going via their mail gateways for both spam and viruses. Home users should make sure that their antivirus software is always up to date. Nobody in their right mind would use Internet Explorer or Outlook Express when we have better alternatives which do not try to execute viruses for us. I use the Mozilla Firefox web browser and Mozilla Thunderbird email and news programs. I suggest you give them a try. And turn off file extension hiding in Windows while you're at it.