18 Dec 2001
Sophos urges users to remain vigilant during festivities
Sophos, a world leader in corporate anti-virus protection, is
advising users not to let their guard slip as the holiday season
approaches. Sending joke programs, screensavers and electronic
greetings cards is a risky activity at any time of year, but in the
midst of the celebrations it can be all too easy to become
complacent.
"Businesses should remain alert to the virus threat every day of
the year," said Peter Cooper, UK Head of Technical Support at
Sophos Anti-Virus. "Viruses themselves pose no greater risk during
the holiday season than at any other time, but during the
festivities users must not forget to remain vigilant."
Virus authors attempt to exploit festive goodwill by disguising
their malicious programs as something entertaining or amusing. Some
examples include the Navidad virus, taken from
the Spanish word for Christmas, and the Grate-B worm which carries
the subject line "Merry Christmas!!!"
Sophos is advising users to practise safe computing and to be
cautious of all email attachments to protect themselves against
virus attack throughout the year.
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.