03 May 2001
Love Bug one year on - no lessons learnt, says Sophos Anti-Virus
 |
| The Love Bug worm pretended to be a love
letter. |
Friday, 4th May will mark the first anniversary of the infamous
Love Bug
computer virus, yet users are still falling for virus-writers'
tricks, according to Sophos Anti-Virus. The Love Bug was one of the
first viruses to successfully manipulate human nature in order to
facilitate its spread. By claiming to be a love letter the virus
pulled on our heartstrings and aroused our curiosity, tempting
thousands of users into double-clicking on the attachment and
launching the virus.
Despite the damage caused by the virus and the media attention
it generated, it seems that many computer users are continuing to
make the same mistakes.
"Since the Love Bug we have seen high profile infections by the
likes of Anna
Kournikova and the Naked Wife worm, both of
which headed straight for the groin - and hit target," said Graham
Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos Anti-Virus. "It's
pretty frustrating to see users being duped by the same old ruse
time and time again, especially when you consider that a
combination of safe computing practice and common sense could
easily prevent these types of virus from spreading."
In order to drastically reduce the chances of infection, Sophos
advises all users to follow safe computing guidelines.
- Users should not open, run or download any unsolicited
executable files (files with - for instance - EXE or VBS
extensions).
- Any unexpected emails should be treated with suspicion, even if
that means calling the person who sent it to check.
- Be wary of downloading executables or documents from the
internet, as these can often harbour computer viruses.
- Be suspicious of any file with a double extension, such as
sexy69.mpg.exe, love-letter-for-you.txt.vbs or
annakournikova.jpg.vbs as it may be hiding its true nature.
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 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.