Sophos Anti-Virus is calling for businesses to report virus
infections to the authorities, in order to provide evidence of the
amount of damage viruses can cause.
Evidence submitted by the FBI at the trial in the Netherlands of
the suspected author of the Kournikova worm shows US
investigators were only able to list 55 incidents of infection,
causing just $166,827 worth of damage. Jan de Wit, aka OnTheFly, is
alleged to have unleashed the Anna Kournikova worm in Februrary of
this year, and computer virus experts estimate millions of computer
users around the world were affected.
"Businesses sometimes think that reporting a virus infection is
an admission of weakness - often they would rather keep quiet in an
attempt to avoid negative press," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant, Sophos Anti-Virus. "This head-in-the-sand
approach to cybercrime only serves to help virus writers. The Anna
Kournikova worm was one of the hardest hitting worms ever - seven
months on, we're still getting calls to our helpdesk about it. How
can the authorities hope to let the punishment fit the crime when
so few companies admit they've been hit?"
de Wit is due to be sentenced on 27 September, and some reports
have predicted a sentence of approximately 240 hours of community
service.
"We've got a catch 22 situation - light sentences are never
going to deter people from writing and distributing viruses. But
the courts have little choice when there is scant evidence of money
lost," continued Cluley. "More evidence means more appropriate
sentences - only when this happens will people think twice before
wreaking havoc."
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.