Gear up for more computer gremlins
( 2002-02-07 11:59 ) (1 )

From traditional viruses to complex network worms, the little bugs had a field day in 2001.

Domestic experts agree that 2001 was the most active year for computer viruses in China so far.

More than half of the country's computers were attacked by viruses, said the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Centre, the country's top virus monitoring authority under the Ministry of Public Security.

Zhang Jian, a chief engineer with the centre, noted that the computer viruses that turned up in China over the past year were notable for their quick spread and frequent transformations.

Even though most computer users showed extreme caution following the breakout of the notorious CIH virus last April 26, they still proved vulnerable to the "Happy time" virus last May, together with the "Fun love," and "I love you" worms in June, "Sircam" in July, "Code Red" and "Nimda" in October, "Want job" and "Nimda II" in November and a series of worms in greeting cards for Christmas and the New Year in December.

The Nimda computer virus, which first appeared in the United States and then spread rapidly across Asia, was recognized by the country's security authorities as the No 1 "notorious" computer virus of the year 2001, followed by the CIH worm, which has been a headache for computer users over the past three years.

The exact number of computers infected to date across the country and the total economic cost, however, are not available yet because the country's nationwide on-line virus inspection network will not be completed until later this year.

The network is expected to provide timely statistics on the number, types and characteristics of computer viruses occurring across the country, as well as the economic loss caused by these worms. These statistics will be based on the online virus reports from anti-virus software producers, enterprises, institutions, schools and individuals around the country.

The latest official data on the country's computer viruses were based on a nationwide online survey conducted by the Ministry of Public Security from April 15 to May 25 last year.

According to the survey, 73 per cent of the country's computer users were hit by various computer viruses in the year leading up to the survey, with 59 per cent of the infected computers having been infected by worms more than three times.

And 14 per cent of the virus-infected users lost all of the data stored on their hard disks, while another 29 per cent saw their data partially damaged.

Computer networks, including both the Internet and Intranet, were the main targets of computer viruses for the year, accounting for 57 per cent of the total number of reported cases.

Among the 57 per cent, 27 per cent were struck while users were downloading files from the Internet, 16 per cent opening e-mails or attachments and the remaining 14 per cent were infected during file swapping through the Intranet, according to the survey.

Pirated compact disks and floppy disks remained the second biggest vehicle for the spread of computer viruses despite the governments' determined efforts to quash software piracy, accounting for 43 per cent of the total reported cases.

Experts predicted that the percentage of computers infected through networks will further increase this year along with the popularization of the Internet and the ongoing construction of the broad band networks across the country.

More than 6,000 computer users across the country were involved in the survey, together with the country's 11 leading domestic and foreign anti-virus software producers in China.

To cope with the virus challenge, the Ministry of Public Security now requires workplaces using computers to install virus prevention systems, to scan their computers regularly and to report worms immediately to the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Centre.