Sophos, a world leader in corporate anti-virus protection, said
today that it had received no reports of the Davinia worm (also
known as VBS/Davinia or HTML/LittleDavinia) from its customers.
The Davinia worm was the subject of a press release by a Spanish
anti-virus company on Friday January 12 2001, but despite excitable
reports in the media it does not appear to be spreading.
Nevertheless, due to media and customer interest, Sophos has
updated its product to protect against this new worm.
The worm exploits a vulnerability in Microsoft Office which was
first warned about in May 2000. Sophos recommends users read
Microsoft Security Bulletin
(MS00-034).
"This appears to be a storm in a teacup," said Graham Cluley,
senior technology consultant for Sophos Anti-Virus. "The worm does
not appear to be spreading, and any security conscious company will
already have patched against this loophole in Microsoft
Office."
Sophos recommends that companies also practise safe computing,
and has published a short list
of tips which can be used to dramatically reduce your chances
of virus infection.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.