Guest guest Posted December 10, 1999 Report Share Posted December 10, 1999 Computer Currents Daily News Y2K May Bring 100 Viruses By Kevin Featherly, Newsbytes. December 10, 1999 New virus alerts seem to go out on a daily basis. But Clark Staten, senior national security analyst with the Chicago- based Emergency Response and Research Institute (ERRI), says there may be as many as 100 new viruses unleashed on the computer world by Jan. 1. ERRI is a Chicago-based consultancy that advises corporations and governmental agencies on issues ranging from the Y2K bug to terrorism. Staten told Newsbytes that, as virus writers seek to exploit the Millennium Bug for personal notoriety within hacker culture, viruses are likely to proliferate. He said that researchers from companies like Network Associates, Symantec, and McAfee report to his company that Y2K will be a very busy time for virus writers. "I'm afraid the virus writers just really want to make a name for themselves as we get to the millennium," Staten said. "I think those who can produce the most noteworthy virus will, of course, receive some attention from their friends in that community." Staten said a likely scenario will take place in businesses that already have undertaken steps toward Y2K compliance. He said it could come down to one unsuspecting employee, downloading an e-mail or participating in a chat group, who accidentally infects the company's system. "And it would appear that when it fails, because it activates on or about Jan. 1, 2000, that it is a Y2K failure, when in fact it is a virus infection. I think that's troubling." Viruses that have popped up in the past week have mostly been e-mail borne viruses with names like W95.Babylonia, Explore.Zip, and Mypics.worm. "We've had four news ones in the past week, at least," Staten said. Yunsun Wee, senior public relations specialist with Symantec Corp. [NASDAQ:SYMC], maker of the Norton line of anti-virus software, told Newsbytes though that, while there have been a number of widely publicized viruses in recent weeks, their notoriety stems more from their association with Y2K than with sheer numbers. "On a normal day we get 10 to 15 new viruses," she said, adding that most are relatively innocuous programs sent out by writers who are typically between the ages of 14 and 24. Most of them get no publicity, she said. "The (virus creators) are just writing to say, 'Hey, look what I can do!' It's not for malicious purposes." Wee said that Symantec is not projecting the number of viruses it expects will pop up as Y2K approaches. But she did say, "We are expecting more, there's no doubt about that." Staten said there is no way to predict what forms viruses may take as developers work harder to increase their complexity on the way to New Year's Day. The primary way to guard against infection, he said, is by frequently updating the anti-virus software operating in terminals. "The rapidly expanding number of viruses is changing day to day. And when you see three to four of them a week, we call that a pattern," he said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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