Sweet nothings we could do without
Sweet nothings we could do without
Predictably enough, given the fact that the quest for love is often the most pressing when singletons see couples smooching everywhere on Valentine's Day, the virus writers are using the occasion to prey on those lonely hearts to deliver network attacks.
As if that wasn't bad enough, an estimated 43 date specific viruses are expected to be activated today to mark Friday the 13th. That is according to research from antivirus software maker Trend Micro.
But users should not be too alarmed about this latest spate of viruses, for TrendLabs (Trend Micro's technical support centre) has found that while the Friday the 13th virus caused significant damage when it first emerged in 1996, this latest crop are ranked as low risk, with most easily detected by modern antivirus software.
Electronic messages declaring love should, however, be treated with the utmost caution this weekend, as many hackers are expected to lure users into opening email attachments with the header "I love you" or some similar term of endearment.
"Viruses that launch attacks on a specific day are not much of a threat because they leave traces that can be tracked through virus histories," said Jamz Yaneza, TrendLabs' Senior Antivirus Consultant. "More dangerous are worms that can launch attacks at any time and infect huge numbers of computers very rapidly." Trend Micro noted that viruses like MyDoom and others have used a single email subject to spread quickly throughout the Internet. Additionally, Trend Micro warns users to be cautious of email or instant messages expressing affectionate sentiments.
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