Monday, January 21, 2002		Article

Five-fold increase in computer virus
Nick Paton Walsh

COMPUTER viruses on the Internet have risen five-fold during the past two years, with one security firm now finding a bug on clients' servers every 30 seconds on average.

British analysts have examined e-mails sent and received in the UK and found that one in 300 is infected, compared with one in 1,500 in 1999. More than 400 new viruses are created every month, experts say.

Security firm Messagelabs has warned of a surge in the number of viruses infecting clients' computers. While the Internet traffic has risen, it discovered that viruses were growing at a faster rate.

Steve Trilling, director of research at the anti-virus company Symantec Security Response, told Observer News Service that the situation would worsen dramatically as technology improved. 'New technologies will help these viruses become more dangerous. The potential danger to the Internet and economy is greater than ever,' he said.

Last year the government's Internet security service, Uniras, issued a record 26 alerts - high-level warnings about viruses that threaten the national infrastructure - three times as many as in 2000. It also issued a record 260 emergency briefings about virus threats.

Messagelabs said the rise was often due to the increased lifespan of a virus. 'We see old viruses again and again that never seem to die out,' said Alex Shipp, its chief antivirus technologist. 'They keep propagating themselves to stay alive.'

The potency of viruses has also increased. Richard Saunders, a spokesperson for Symantec, said the greatest problem were 'blended threats' - viruses that used a variety of techniques to infiltrate a system. These include bombarding a computer with emails and leaving a secret program behind to cause damage later.

Last week it was revealed that computer viruses cost firms more than $ 26 billion globally in 2001. Independent researchers, Computer Economics, said the 'Love Bug' and 'Code Red II' viruses had caused considerable damage.