06 Feb 2001
Watch out for Cupid's arrows this Valentine's Day - they may hurt
Sophos, a world leader in corporate anti-virus protection, today
warned companies to be aware of the dangers of electronic Valentine
cards. Employees are expected to email thousands of these cards
this Valentine's Day which could be harbouring dangerous computer
viruses.
"Sending joke programs, screensavers and electronic Valentine
cards increases the risk of virus infection," said Graham Cluley,
senior technology consultant for Sophos Anti-Virus. "As romance
blossoms in the office it may be all too easy for your users to let
their guard slip and leave themselves vulnerable to attack. It may
be a lot safer to receive your Valentine message through the
regular post."
Sophos has reported that virus writers are increasingly using
psychological temptations such as love, money and lust to encourage
innocent users to activate viruses. Last year the Love Bug virus
posed as a romantic loveletter and millions of users around the
world were hit. Sophos suggests that all companies and
organisations teach employees safe computing practice and to be
suspicious of any unsolicited email attachments as part of their
basic training.
Sophos advises users to remain suspicious and to practise
safe computing all
year round.
About Sophos
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 complete security solutions that are simple to deploy, manage, and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, mobile and network security solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.