Ever since computer viruses first appeared in the mid 80s, they have been getting smarter. They're not only becoming harder to detect and destroy but they're finding ways to spread more easily, more quickly, and to more users at a time. One of the more effective ways of spreading viruses is now through use of email. The I love you virus, or worm as it is often called, spreads by attaching itself to every person or destination in the infected user's Microsoft Outlook address book. The worm works by masquerading itself as the user. It pretends to be you then sends itself to all the friends in your address book. Your friends receive an email from you and don't suspect that you might send them an infected file. They open the file attached to your email and, before they know it, they are infected. This has actually happened to me twice, each time with the same virus, each time with a friend using MS Outlook.

In 1999, another masquerading email virus, Melissa, named after a topless dancer from Florida, infected an estimated 100,000 users in the four days after it was first released. The users had to be running Windows and Word 97 and Outlook email to be infected but when they were, the virus sent out pornography site passwords in an email attachment to the first 50 recipients in the user's address book. In this case, not only does the masquerading virus aim to damage your computer, but your reputation as well. Of course, this is not the only problem with the viruses. The ability to take 50 addresses and send an attachment to all of them creates a chain reaction that can quickly overload mail servers. One site reported receiving 32,000 copies of mail messages containing Melissa within a 45 minute period.

The first time I got infected by the I love you virus or worm, I learned a quick lesson from the experience and promptly downloaded the latest version of the antivirus software Inoculate IT . The version I had was out of date because I hadn't realized how vulnerable I was to attack and how much damage could be done by one bug. I now regularly make sure I keep my anti-virus software updated. I generally prefer Inoculate IT to many of its competitors such as McAffee and Norton AntiVirus because it is free and because it uses fewer system resources. You can also get some protection from these viruses and worms directly from Microsoft. They periodically announce security updates to programs such as MS Outlook to help protect users from many malicious viruses.

It's hard to predict how much smarter these viruses will get in the future. However, if the trend continues, they will increase in variety, in number and they will spread more easily, to more users and more quickly. As more people use email for communication, viruses will have a free ticket to travel. They will no doubt benefit as well from growth in the exchange of information as a result of increasing bandwidth. Certain trends in software manufacturing as well as tendencies to connect to the outside world may also make us more vulnerable to assault by viruses.

If the trend in viruses is that they are becoming smarter, then maybe the best way to deal with them is to have smarter users. Sometimes, anti-virus software makes us dumb users, not smart ones, by giving us a false sense of security. The best protection mechanisms may mean therefore that we simply have to be smarter and more cautious computer users and email readers - especially when the email comes from friends!

Previously published in The Express 02/01
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