Internet Tips & Tricks
By MARK DAVIS
General Manager, CommSpeed Internet Service
Vice
President, Prescott Computer Society
Visit the Computer Society Website
www.prescottcomputersociety.org
Worst Year Ever for Viruses
2003 was
the "worst year ever" for viruses and worms according to
security analysts. Worms caused billions in damage
throughout the year, and they often crippled everything
from ATM machines to anti-spam websites.
Slammer
showed up in January, followed by Blaster and Sobig
which spread like wildfire in the summer months, and
variants of those viruses have been circulating since.
In no
other year have computer viruses and worms wreaked so
much havoc and caused so much damage as in this past
year, according to security analysts. And the stakes
are only getting higher as we go forward.
The year
started off with a bang -- a malicious bang -- when
Slammer was released in the wild, delaying airline
flights, bringing down a 911 system and stressing the
Internet's backbone. Everyone thought worms had hit a
new high in destructive capability. But that was early
in the year. Much worse was still to come.
August was
the worst month on record for virus and worm attacks,
according to several anti-virus companies.
Blaster
hit the wild with a vengeance, exploiting a flaw with
Microsoft Windows. The flaw enabled an attacker to gain
full access to your system. The vulnerability affected
Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP machines. What
made it a major problem was the fact that the
vulnerability affected servers and desktops in such
popular operating systems, there were potentially
millions of vulnerable computers.
Then along
came the Sobig family of viruses. The Sobig family hit
the Internet hard, flooding email servers and inboxes.
Corporate networks staggered under the barrage with
network access slowing to a crawl, and some email
systems being taken temporarily offline to stop the
siege.
Sobig-F
has been named the fastest spreading virus in the
industry's history. The latest report estimates that
Sobig has caused 36.1 billion in damages.
What to
do? Make sure your computers are protected with up
to date virus protection software!
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