Graham Cluley Virus Quotations

If we joined, we couldn't share any identifying information about MARA members, so if we found someone in the group publishing virus source code, or co-authoring articles with known virus writers, we couldn't divulge that information.

It is probably the biggest virus since the Love Bug. It went quiet overnight but took off again this morning when people started opening their e-mails.

There are fortunes to be made from the dark side of the internet, and spammers who are finding it harder to sell goods via bulk email are likely to turn to other criminal activities, ... What the chart reveals is that spammers and virus writers can exploit unprotected computers anywhere in the world to send out their unwanted messages - everyone has a part to play in the fight against spam.

This worm is over a year old, so anyone that's updated their virus protections in the last year will be protected.

A lot of people are stuck in the 1990s, with their image of a virus writer as a kid eating pizza in their bedroom. In fact they are now much more serious, and much nastier.

This is the first real virus for the Mac OS X platform. Apple Mac users need to be just as careful running unknown or unsolicited code on their computers as their friends and colleagues running Windows.

This is the first real virus to infect the Mac OS X. It's always been presented and marketed as a much safer operating system.

The warning is clearly nonsense and no such virus exists. However, hoaxes and chain letters like this are not harmless - they waste time and bandwidth, and can be a genuine headache for support departments. Users need to think ask themselves whether everything they are told can be believed.

The Mytob worms have made a significant impact on the virus outbreak charts this year, so anything which may prevent future variants from being developed and released must be welcomed.

They don't need to go to all that extra effort to write a virus for Macs. There are plenty of unprotected Windows computers out there.

What the chart reveals is that spammers and virus writers can exploit unprotected computers anywhere in the world to send out their unwanted messages.

However, when examined by an experienced virus analyst the similarities become clear. It appears that whoever wrote Zotob had access to the Mytob source code, ripped out the email-spreading section, and plugged in the Microsoft exploit.