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| Onel de Guzman is suspected of being the author
of the Love Bug worm |
"May the fourth be with you.."
Four years ago today, on 4 May 2000, the VBS/Lovelet-A virus
(also known as the Love Bug or ILOVEYOU worm) caused considerable
damage as it infected computers worldwide.
The virus, believed to have been written by Filipino student
Onel de Guzman, fooled computer users into believing they were
receiving a love letter in their email. However, if the attached
file was opened the virus would forward itself to other email
addresses found on the infected computer.
"In many ways the Love Bug was the grandfather of modern
email-aware viruses like Sobig, MyDoom and Netsky," said Graham
Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "It heralded a new
era of email-aware worms which have clogged up computer users'
email systems ever since."
Since the appearance of the Love Bug many other viruses have
emerged which used similar tricks to tempt users into
double-clicking on a malicious attachment. Memorably in 2001 a worm
which pretended to be pictures of the Russian
tennis pin-up Anna Kournikova successfully spread around the
globe. Other viruses have posed as files connected with Shakira, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton or Jennifer Lopez.
"The sad fact is that four years on users are probably just as
likely to fall for a virus with a psychological trick up its sleeve
as they were before. Put simply - there are plenty of people who
will launch the virus even if they have been hit many times before.
Technology may have improved in the last four years, but people's
gullibility remains the same," continued Cluley.
Since the Love Bug viruses have become more sophisticated, with
some viruses such as Blaster and Sasser travelling across the
internet without using email. However, anti-virus technology has
also become more powerful with the ability to block dangerous file
types which may contain new, unknown viruses at the email gateway
and seamless tools for automatic updating of an entire company's
computers.
Laws designed to combat computer misuse were only introduced in
June 2000 by the authorities in the Philippines as a result of the
Love Bug incident. These laws could not be backdated, and suspect
Onel de Guzman walked free.
"No-one has ever been brought to court for spreading the Love
Bug virus, and it seems they probably never will," continued
Cluley.
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.
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