The computer virus that spammed e-mail inboxes with neo-Nazi
rhetoric over the past few days has not had a significant effect on
regional networks, experts said.
"We saw a substantial increase in spam over the weekend," said
Bryan Lucas, a network administrator with Texas Christian
University.
"But we got some updates from our security firm that were able to
prevent a big outbreak."
Lucas said the only problem that TCU encountered is that it could
not use traditional anti-spam anti-virus software. Instead, the
university used software that recognized key phrases in the e-mail
and rejected it.
The Sober-P virus, unlike many others, spread hate
propaganda.
The timing of the virus appeared to coincide with the 60th
anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
The content of the e-mails has changed since Net security
agencies first took notice of the virus, in early May.
But most versions contain neo-Nazi rhetoric.
The virus targets computers running the Microsoft Windows
operating system and has messages in German or English.
Some of the German versions say they're from the international
soccer organization FIFA and have an attached file. Opening the
attachment triggers the virus and spreads similar e-mails using the
infected computers' address books.
A few versions of the virus contain links to Web sites that have
additional malicious viruses.
New York-based MessagesLabs, an e-mail-security and
management-services firm, said it first intercepted the virus May 3
and has caught 1,108,432 copies since then.
Sunny Lowe, vice president of the Strickland Group, an
information-technology-consulting company based in Fort Worth, said
most computer users have received some form of protection from the
virus.
"I don't want to minimize the problem and as a result have people
let their guard down," Lowe said. "But it's not that big of a deal.
If you check some of the Web-security sites out there, you will find
20 to 30 malicious viruses out there released in the month of May
alone."
Network technicians at CI Host quickly got a handle on the
problem.
"Within the first 24 hours, we got several hundred thousand
copies sent in before our filters were able to stop it," said
Christopher Faulkner, chief executive of CI Host, a Web host and
data center in Bedford. The company hosts about 20,000 Web sites
with about 10 million e-mail accounts.
