[iwar] [fc:Virus.Authors.to.Sow.Different.Terror.on.9-11]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2002-08-19 06:04:37


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Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 06:04:37 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [iwar] [fc:Virus.Authors.to.Sow.Different.Terror.on.9-11]
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Virus Authors to Sow Different Terror on 9-11
Date:  Thursday, 15 August 2002
<a href="http://www.ds-osac.org/edb/cyber/news/story.cfm?KEY=8746">http://www.ds-osac.org/edb/cyber/news/story.cfm?KEY=8746>


Source:  BusinessWorld

Story:  As the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on
the United States nears, an executive of a leading anti-virus software
provider warned of the possibility that virus writers and hackers would
mark this event with computer nuisance attacks.

Charles Cousins, managing director of Sophos Anti-Virus Asia, said in an
interview with BusinessWorld Online "it is possible that something might
happen," referring to virus attacks come Sept. 11, as he cautioned
people to be extra careful when opening e-mail.

"If you think it is not something you need, just delete it," he
stressed. Mr. Cousins said organizations should be vigilant and practice
safe computing any time of the year.

Although it cannot yet be classified as a growing trend, Mr. Cousins
said some are politically motivated viruses that have been created
recently.

Last month, Sophos reported a politically motivated virus made it into
the top three of the top 10 viruses the anti-virus software maker
monitors regularly.

Sophos referred to the Yaha, which launched a rudimentary denial of
service attack on the Pakistan government's website and encouraged
Indian hackers and virus writers to attack Pakistan.

Mr. Cousins said there were unconfirmed reports that the virus was
traced to an Indian virus writer.

The more widespread computer viruses are still the script viruses, Mr.
Cousins said. He said such viruses are easy to write and there are lots
of documentation on how to write them.

The most damaging, however, are still the executable files, which Mr.
Cousins estimated compose 20% of the known viruses but account for 80%
of global infections.

Mr. Cousins noted a lot of companies in Asia lack computer security
policies and do not strictly follow safe computing practices.

"There is little education for safe computing," he said, noting it may
even be necessary for companies to run courses on safe computing
practices to develop the culture for it.

The Asian market offers huge potentials for Sophos, Mr. Cousins said. He
said the company aims to get 10% market share in Asia in the next three
years. Its key regional markets include Singapore, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand and Taiwan.

While Sophos is not yet ready to set up its own offices in each of the
countries in Asia where it is represented, Mr. Cousins said the company
appoints strategic partners to market Sophos' products. It now has more
than 40 partners in the region, eight of which are for the Philippines.

Mr. Cousins said the main challenge for the Philippine market is the
large volume of unlicensed applications software that are still being
used by some companies.

Because these companies do not give much premium to buying licensed
software, he said it is also difficult to convince them to invest on
anti-virus software products.

He said Sophos products typically cost two percent of the entire
information technology budget of an organization.

Headquartered in the United Kingdom, Sophos is a global developer of
anti-virus software products to protect businesses and organizations
from virus attack.

Copyright 2002 BusinessWorld Publishing Corporation

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