Companies Reap 'Melissa' Benefits my left foot!
Associated Press Online - March 30, 1999 18:20 By MARTHA MENDOZA
AP Business Writer
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Antivirus software companies will reap big benefits from the insidious Melissa computer bug that is roaming across the virtual world, mutating as it goes, analysts said Tuesday.
"A major outbreak of any virus, especially when it receives extensive coverage like Melissa, is going to be good for the antivirus business," said International Data Corp. researcher Chris Christiansen.
The new computer virus spread quickly across the Internet over the weekend, paralyzing corporate e-mail systems by getting into users' e-mail address books and sending infected messages to everyone in them.
By Tuesday, several variations were popping up in personal computers.
"Certainly this gets most businesses out of the complacency they may have fallen into with regards to any virus and raises public awareness of the need for antivirus software," said Kevin Hause, another IDC analyst.
Antivirus software - known in the industry as a "vaccine" - detects the presence of a computer virus in a system by checking for unusual attempts to access disk areas and system files. It also searches for specific viruses. Most computers used in businesses and homes are equipped with the software.
Since Melissa is a new virus, it slipped past installed antivirus software. Developers had to rush to update their products and get them out to the public once the virus became known.
Antivirus software sales reached $1.3 billion last year, according to IDC, up from $915 million in 1997 and $430 million in 1996.
An antivirus system for a personal computer typically costs around $50. Corporate systems can cost about $15 per machine, amounting to thousands of dollars for companies with lots of computers. Updates generally cost about $3 per seat, although most Melissa patches are being offered for free.
Gartner Group research analyst Arabella Hallawell said a virus like Melissa pushes technical advances at the antivirus companies as well as spurring sales.
"The onus is on the vendors now to figure out ways to react quickly to viruses like Melissa - alert customers and update and distribute the fix," she said.
The top antivirus vendors - Network Associates Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., and Symantec of Cupertino, Calif. - reacted swiftly to the Melissa virus, setting up emergency response teams, tracking the origins in their laboratories and monitoring the mutations.
Companies were also pitching dozens of antivirus software systems with reassuring names like Guard Dog, VirusScan, ViruSafe, Sweep, eSafe Protect, and PC-cillin, using the Internet to tie the products into news about Melissa.
"When there's a high-profile virus outbreak, it's really another chance for us to inform people that they need to be careful and that antivirus software is insurance," said Steve Trilling, Symantec's antivirus research director. "You need to pay to protect your data."
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