The night of September 3rd proved to be a nightmare for most people as an attack of what’s dubbed to be the fastest-growing computer in virus history hit millions of people worldwide.
Photo from f-secure.com
Systems all over the world could only stare at their monitors in horror after the spread of “Sobig.F” to 134 countries in a matter of 96 hours, generating over tens of millions of emails. Such multitude have experts fearing that electronic traffic volume would increase by a whopping 60%; thereby, significantly slowing down internet access and speed.
The virus attack is said to have individual businesses bombarded with over a million copies of the virus. Home users had their devices jammed by 6,000, with the PC World chain reporting that tens of thousands of customers had their computers “cleaned.” Businesses in Britain alone had over a hundred million dollars worth of system crashes and lost orders. It is expected that when reports come out, the cost worldwide would be a staggering amount.
According to experts, the Sobig virus seems to be written by spam senders who are always on the quest for ways to get past internet filters which block their emails. This latest attack came hard; following that of two other major viruses, namely Blaster and Nachi.
Graham Cluley of Sophos Anti-Virus remarked that as far as computing history goes, this has to be the worst bombardment of viruses because even users who have secured protection are affected with the slowdown. Sobig.F is hailed as the fastest spreading virus yet unleashed and should it maintain the pace that it’s currently going at for the next few days, it’s likely to become the most prevalent as well.
Britain’s internet security company, by the name of MessageLabs, reported of its interception of over a million copies of the virus in just a matter of 24 hours, which is the highest number in all of the virus attacks so far.
Photo from crunkish.com
To illustrate this, the “LoveBug” virus, which hit three years ago, was found in every 28 emails at its peak. However, Sobig.F was found in one of 17 emails sent. How is it spread? It’s when unsuspecting online users open attachment emails containing the subject, “Re: Details”, “Re:Wicked Screensaver” and “Thank You”.
With its ability to send multiple copies of itself to to each name in a user’s address book, every computer that’s infected can generate over a hundred emails. It also attempts an implantation of a background programs which enables computers to transmit messages sent by the creators of the virus, which in turn, increases their turnings.
The advice of experts for every infected user is to keep their anti-software updated, refrain from opening email attachments unless they are sure of the source and to immediately delete any email from a sender he or she doesn’t know. As per Cluley though, emails which are seemingly from friends still need caution.
For users with infected devices, proceed to visiting an internet security website company or purchase a credible reliable anti-virus software. You may also call us, Compushooter at 480-464-202, for repairs or installation of the recommended software programs and we will gladly be of assistance and service.
