According to media reports, the 2003 Pan American Games have
been disrupted by a computer virus.
The unnamed computer virus is said to have interfered with the
results service at the international sporting event, being held in
Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Media representatives
around the world were unable to access the latest scores and
results from competitions as the computer system was brought down
for the second day running on Monday.
The virus infection was the latest in a long line of
difficulties facing the organisers of the Pan American Games,
including athletes arriving late, a fly-infested media centre, and
the use of an amateurishly designed Brazilian flag at the opening
ceremony.
"If you organise an international event the eyes of the world
are watching you and it's essential that your computer systems are
protected against the latest threats," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant for Sophos Anti-Virus. "Viruses act like a
modern-day plague - not only capable of damaging the data held by
businesses, but also disrupting entertainment and social events
which should be focused on fun."
Sophos is no stranger to protecting international events from
the virus threat. Earlier in 2003 it successfully protected the
Cannes Film Festival from all virus attacks during the course of
the prestigious movie competition.
The Pan American Games, held every four years since 1951, are
always held the summer preceding the Olympic Games and are attended
by athletes from 42 nations in North, Central and South America,
and the Caribbean who compete in 288 events across 35 sports. The
event showcases all 28 Olympic sports and seven non-Olympic
events.
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.