Off topic ... sort of
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Computer virus and ''worm'' attacks on information systems have caused businesses to lose a total of $7.6 BILLION in the first half of 1999 as a result of disabled computers, a research firm said Friday ...
The cost of viruses and worms -- computer bugs spread by e-mail that can cause system shutdowns -- was about five times larger in the first six months of 1999 than businesses suffered during ALL of last year, said Computer Economics Inc.
The most recent study was based on 185 companies representing 900,000 international users, while the 1998 survey used slightly different methodology, researcher Michael Erbschloe said.
''The numbers probably came out low,'' he said. ''It is a conservative number in that not everyone tracks cost, and most companies tend to undercount and underreport.''
He said the $7.6 billion figure represented lost productivity and repair costs reported by the company. The 1998 figure of about $1.5 billion also included ''intrusions'' to corporate systems, in addition to general virus attacks.
Erbschloe said this year's high profile attacks by ExploreZip worm, which erased computer files and caused the shutdown of some corporate e-mail systems, and the Melissa virus, which spread quickly but did not destroy data, would only draw more attacks.
''Hackers don't like to be outdone,'' he said. ''And most companies are underfunding their security efforts.''
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One of NIPD's [Natl Infrastructure Protection Dept] greatest concerns has been that with so many people working on Y2K remediation throughout the world (particularly on U.S. systems) ... that there would be a greater opportunity to sabotage and/or introduce viruses.
Cheryl
195 Days until ...
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