Carole Theriault Quotations

We are already seeing a transformation, where virus writing is getting more sinister and turning toward monetary gain.

There are two re-entries fooling users this month. The Elf Bowling hoax, which has made a festive re-appearance, warns users that the game is infected with a virus and should be deleted immediately upon receipt. This hoax is essentially harmless, but serves as a reminder to companies that they should explain to employees the danger of distributing executable files. The game, while not a malicious threat, can divert employees from doing real work.

Since we saw the first Sober worm back in October 2003, its author has tried to improve upon tried-and-tested tricks to dupe computer users into launching infected attachments. This latest worm purports to be a warning from CIA and FBI agents, accusing recipients of visiting illegal websites. Mocking the feds is a sure-fire way of goading the authorities, and you can't help but wonder whether the author is desperate to be caught.

Businesses and individuals without computer protection in place are living in cloud-cuckoo-land. These worms can wreak havoc on a network but are easily controlled if an effective security policy is in place.

Virus writers are always looking for new tricks to entice innocent computer users into running their malicious code. This latest ploy feeds on people's desire for the latest news.

Though the Hotmail hoax is now in its 14th month at the top of the chart, it has fallen in volume by 20% from July - though this may be explained by the reduction in user activity, ... With London still recovering from last month's bombings, it is not surprising that the ICE virus hoax, which exploits a genuine 'In Case of Emergency' campaign, has risen several places in the chart.

Yes, they take credit for it, ... They try to impress one another and outdo one another.

There's loads of it about at the moment. The volume of spam is ramping up as the day progresses.

A new chain letter has entered the charts claiming that the MSN will be closed down unless the bogus email is forwarded to family, friends and colleagues. As always, these chain letters are best deleted as they waste bandwidth.

This is not the first time we have seen immoral opportunists take advantage of a natural disaster to fill their pockets with money meant for victims.

This is the second massive e-mail attack from this hacker in two days, the creator is obviously intent on infecting as many people as possible.

That may not surprise people who think it might contain genuine breaking news about Michael Jackson.

It's important to remember that as older threats are vanquished, others will undoubtedly take their place. Mass-mailing worms may be in decline, but it's highly unlikely that they will disappear entirely - the introduction of a major new operating system may even spark a new wave of threats, as virus writers try to find holes in the product.

Smaller, targeted attacks are on the increase, with the emergence of a new breed of financially-motivated online criminal. The concern is that if users continue to combine unsafe computing practices with outdated threat protection, they'll be a soft target for this new form of attack,

If you don't have antivirus, get some. If you have some, ensure it's up to date and clean up your computer.

If you click on the link, the website displays a message saying it is too busy, which may not surprise people who think it might contain genuine breaking news about Michael Jackson.

If you click on the link, the Web site displays a message saying it is too busy, which may not surprise people who think it might contain genuine breaking news about Michael Jackson.