Virus protection lacking in a third of networks

Over a third of networks are vulnerable to attack from viruses, according to the International Computer Security Association (ICSA).

The group's 1999 Computer Virus Prevalence Survey, released last week, revealed that 35 percent of US enterprise sites surveyed admitted to having no anti-virus protection for servers or other PC-based network equipment.

Bruce Hughes, ICSA lab analyst, warned: "Network managers need to be more aware of virus activity, they need to know about the latest strains and keep AV signature files up to date, something that is not done at the moment."

The study found that the number of virus infections is doubling every year and virus authors are increasingly targeting networks.

"Virus writers follow trends. Currently there are more network-aware viruses around," Hughes said. "Before that, macro viruses were popular.

These can spread in minutes, making mass infection an ever-present possibility."

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said: "We are still encountering UK companies that have no anti-virus installed, largely because they have never opened their networks to the internet before."

www.icsa.net.