SCO back online with alternative web address
SCO back online with alternative web address
The SCO Group has announced it has put alternatives in place for individuals wanting to access its company website, as the MyDoom virus continues to disable access to its usual www.sco.com URL.
The company is asking customers, resellers, developers, shareholders and all other website visitors to use www.thescogroup.com as the destination for the company's website through the end of February 12, 2004. This is the date when the virus is programmed to cease its Denial of Service (DoS) attack.
It is widely believed that SCO has been targeted for this attack as revenge for its pursuit of the Linux community for compensation over what SCO claims is a breach of copyright of its Unix source code in the open source operating system. The dispute has led to court action between SCO and leading open source developers IBM, Novell and Red Hat, with enterprise Linux users having also been written to by SCO requesting that they purchase licenses from SCO to continue to use the open source OS.
"Security experts are calling MyDoom the largest virus attack ever to hit the Internet, costing businesses and computer users around the world in excess of US$1 billion in lost productivity and damage," said Darl McBride, President and CEO, The SCO Group. "Because one of its purposes is to interrupt access to the www.sco.com website, we are taking steps to help our important stakeholders continue to access the information, data and support that they need from this new www.thescogroup.com website."
The new website will provide visitors with all of the accessibility and resources that they would normally have when visiting www.sco.com, but also includes links that point visitors to security vendors, including Network Associates and Symantec, that will provide them with all of the latest information on how to download software updates and protect their PCs against the MyDoom virus.
SCO also announced that it is working with U.S. law enforcement authorities, including the U.S. Secret Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to determine the identity of the perpetrators of the MyDoom virus. Both SCO, and Microsoft, whose main website is expected to be a target of a variant of the virus later today, have offered a reward of US$250,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual(s) involved with the creation of the virus, and are asking anyone with credible information or leads should contact an FBI or Interpol office.
"We believe that Microsoft's US$250,000 reward in addition to the US$250,000 reward offered by SCO will significantly assist the FBI in obtaining serious leads that may help catch the perpetrators of this virus," said McBride.
For those having problems getting through to SCO on the web, customers may call their local sales office to gain assistance from a SCO representative. In Australia and New Zealand call, customer's are being asked to call the company's Sydney HQ should they encounter any problems. The number is +61 2 9440 7577.
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