Sophos offices around the world reported no increase in
anti-virus support calls by 19:00 GMT, 4th January 2000.
Sophos has been consistent during the run-up to the Year 2000 in
its belief that there is simply no evidence that viruses will be
any more of a problem over the Y2K period than on any other day of
the year.
Some anti-virus companies predicted an "onslaught" of new
viruses on January 3rd and 4th when many companies returned to work
after the holiday break. However, Sophos reports that support calls
are at their usual level, and there is no evidence of anything
unusual.
Sophos criticised antivirus
vendor Computer Associates for issuing several press releases on
New Year's Eve warning about computer viruses - some of which were
not in the wild, and posed no threat to users over the Y2K
period.
Sophos's technical support departments have been manned
continuously throughout the Y2K period, as they are every day of
the year, 24 hours a day.
Report from Sophos, Australia:
No increase in support calls.
"There has been no increase in support calls - if anything it's
been quieter than normal because so many customers are joining in
the Millennium celebrations. After months of hype from other
anti-virus vendors Sophos's prediction of business as normal has
been proven to be true." - Sean Richmond, Head of Technical
Support, Sophos Australia.
Report from Sophos, France:
No increase in support calls.
"French customers faced no increased threat from viruses over
the Y2K period. Anti-virus companies who predicted a deluge of new
viruses were proven wrong." - Patrice Le Mounier, Sophos
France.
Report from Sophos, Germany:
No increase in support calls.
"Viruses don't care about what the date is, they infect
customers regardless. There was never any reason to believe there
would be an increased problem with viruses over Y2K. Judging by the
normal level of support calls we received the Y2K virus threat did
not emerge in Germany."- Christian Weber, Head of Technical
Support, Sophos Germany.
Report from Sophos, United Kingdom:
No increase in support calls.
"Some anti-virus companies have been guilty of hyping up the Y2K
virus problem. It seems the marketing departments of some companies
are more interested in hyperbole than providing accurate, calm
advice to their users. That attitude damages the credibility of the
entire anti-virus industry." - Graham Cluley, Senior Technology
Consultant, Sophos Anti-Virus.
Report from Sophos, USA:
No increase in support calls.
"We observed nothing unusual on the virus front over the Y2K
period. Viruses are a problem 365 days a year, there was never any
reason to believe they would pose any greater problem over the last
few days" - John Williams, Head of Technical Support, Sophos
USA.
Sophos presented a paper, "Is there a Y2K virus problem?" at the
Virus Bulletin conference in Vancouver in October 1999 which
debates many of these issues, and scrutinizes the hyperbole.
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.