Until recently, the most open-minded of us adopted an almost tolerant approach to Internet viruses. We grudgingly applauded the virus writers` ingenuity while we waited for our poor network administrators to clear the latest mess and get our systems running again.
We almost understood the head-rush that must follow the creation of the ultimate virus. We assumed it was like a virtual, tech-era Everest - you create the virus because you can and conquer the Internet purely because it`s there.
That was back in the days when viruses resulted in downtime only once every few weeks. Way back in the good old days - like in 2003. We`re not feeling terribly understanding anymore.
This year`s spate of maggoty infestations of the Internet mean that we waste literally hours downloading septic mails that must be deleted as soon as they arrive. That`s hours off our lives, you understand. Add it up - an hour a day times five days a week times 52 weeks a year. At 260 hours in total, you`re talking almost 11 full days or roughly 22 working days a year. So I could spend three weeks at the coast in the time I waste staring at my inbox every day watching spam and viruses flooding in.
And this is only counting time wasted in downloading and deleting this stuff. I can`t even begin to estimate the wasted man-hours that follow the opening of an infected attachment by an ill-informed colleague. Or the money lost by freelancers who charge by the hour for work that can only be done on their PCs. Or the loss of credibility (and future earnings) to companies whose systems crash publicly as a result of virus problems.
Even with the best possible anti-virus protection, the new worm variants are unleashed within hours of anti-virus updates, bearing assorted attachments and subject lines, and spoofed sender addresses to fool filters and end-users.
I could spend three weeks at the coast in the time I waste staring at my inbox every day watching spam and viruses flooding in.
Tracy Burrows, news editor, ITWeb
We don`t really care anymore how clever the virus writers are, whether they are engaged in a 'virtual turf war` with other virus writers, or whether they are trying to make socio-political statements. Some of the recent infestations were apparently intended to take on the 'bad guys` of the IT world - like Microsoft and opponents to open source software and the free exchange of copyrighted music.
The worms were designed to take over millions of PCs, from where they would launch denial-of-service attacks on these 'bad guys` to make a point. We`re all in favour of freedom of speech and the right to protest, but I really object when someone else presumes to take over my network to make their point - especially at deadline time.
Frankly, we`ve all had enough now. Would the virus writers please call off their destructive little tech spawn and apply their apparent genius to something useful for a change? An auto-destruct system for spammers` PCs would be nice. Or a worm that crawls the Net annihilating child porn and reporting its originators to the police. I`d even settle for a benign little bug that seeks and destroys pop-up ads on Web sites, come to think of it. Anything but this horrible plague of worms.
Share