I IT ~orld

getting
used
•
to
viruses
By Kelly Davis
InclepewJent·Mall
\Vanr hiuh computer securi-
t"\ ; ')
'J '
Unplug your desktop, put it
in a big box, pour in some con-
crete and drop it in the middle
of the Pacific Ocean.
That is the advice of
Clemson University adjunct
professor and Computer
Science Lab Administrator
Jay Harris days into yet
another viral storm sending
waves of infected e-mails
crashing into computer sys-
tems across the nation.
Clemson mail servers
blocked more than 100,000 e-
mails a day since the new
virus, dubbed "Mydoom" or
"Novarg", began co-opting
computer address books and
sending itself to networked
computers with Windows ·
operating system software,
university e-mail postmaster
Barbara Bergman said.
"We expect similar num-
bers all week ," she said.
Each blocked message may
have had been headed to mul-
tiple recipients, so many more
computers were potential tar-
gets.
To put the influx in perspec-
tive, the university normally
gets between 3 million and 4
million e-mail messages a day,
Ms. Bergman said. The
Mydoom virus hit the
Clemson network about as
hard as other "successful"
viruses that began appearing
last year, she said.
"It's caused an impact, but
we 're adapting," she said.
"Universities in general are
more apt to get spammed by
viruses because our addresses
are very active on the
Internet.';
Students in general are not
well versed in software patch-
es and updates, Mr. Harris
said.
"It's the attitude of, 'If it's
working, don't fix it,' " he
said. "Unless they get hit and
typically wind up having
some problems, students tend
to leave these alone until it's
too late."
That lack of vigilance is
common in home users, too,
who increasingly have fast
and always-on DSL and cable
modem Internet connections
hackers love to exploit.
Computers' "social habits"
are increasingly mirroring
biological systems, and viral
activity and protection is
becoming eerily reminiscent
of the public health realm.
The main effect of this viral
outbreak at Clemson has been
slower services as the mail

Please see IT, Page 7A

IT world
getting
used
•
to
viruses
From Page lA
servers work to block incoming
messages in which anti·virus
software has detected the viral
code.
"We continue to warn people
not to open unknown attach·
ments, run strong virus protec·
tion and update their rlcfini·
tions daily.·' Ms. Bergman said.
The definition s an' nIt's a nti·
virus software companies dis·
tribute to allow their software
on individual computers to rec·
ognize specific viruses, much
as real vaccines use dead, weak·
ened or dismantled viruses or
bacteria to teach the immune
system what those microbes
look like.
Mr. Harris also recommends
personal "firewall" software
that monitors incoming and
outgoing data on connected
computers for viruslike activi·
ty The real·world equivalent
might be covering your mouth
when you sneeze.
Or, "it's just like dressing for
the winter," Mr. Harris said.
"You're mother tells you to put
on layers. If I have the anti·
virus (software), I still want the
firewall to protect against other
things."
"Mydoom" is not a particu·
larly novel virus or dangerous
to personal computers, but it is
sly because instead of promis·
ing scintillating photos or a
message from a fril'nct. it uses
technical jargon to explain the
presence of a malicious attach·
ment, said Seneca· based com·
puter security consultant Russ
Kelly. One message seen with
the virus is, "This message con·
tains Unicode characters and
has been sent as a binarv
attachment." v

Fortunately, "it c10esn '( do

any damage except bouncing e·
mail back and forth. " he said.
But large organizations can·
not afford to assume thf' next
virus will be so benign.
AnMecl Health Network
Services Manager Cherry
Croker sa id her c1epartment
now spends on the order of
$50,000 a year, not including
staff time, on software updates,
subscriptions to anti·virus
companies and other activities
related to safeguardin g more
.~ ~ ,.., 1()() <,:pr\lf'rs and 2.:j()O per·
sOHia [sAiPuRI? d€I0&9 Z _
health sYstem.
The . health system also
invested a much lm'gcl: nne·
time sum this veal' on a system
to constantly and automaticallv
update computcrs \\'ith the lat·
est anti·virus signature files.
The investment has paid off
this time. The lwalth system
detected about 1,800 virus·
infected e·mails since Tuesday
morning, but only one comput·
er was infected, Ms. Croker
said.
AnMed Inf<mnation
Services Director Darrell
Hickman said computer virus·
es will continue to be a threat
until operating system makers
"grow up."
The most popular operating
system, Microsoft Windows,
was designed as a personal
computing system, and only
later was adapted to wide·
spread corporate use as the
Internet matured.
"Retrofitting" Windows with
solid anti·virus properties is
"like trying to build a founda·
tion under a house after the
house is built," he said.
At a university, an Internet
connection is unavoidable, and
with countless student and fac·
ulty computers all connected,
each with an unknown quanti·
ty of viral protection , the
potential for disaster is always
in the air, Mr. Harris said.
"To be honest I feel like a fire·
fighter," he said. ''I'm constant·
ly putting out the small fires,
and I'm afraid every time I turn
around there's going to be one I
can't handle. I've always been
the paranoid one around here."
Kelly Davis can be reached
at (864) 260-1277 or by e·mail at
davisk@ln.iependentMail.com