2003 viruses caused $55B damage, antivirus firm says

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,89138,00.html

Story by Jennifer Tan
JANUARY 16, 2004
REUTERS

Computer virus attacks cost global businesses an estimated $55 billion
in damages in 2003, a sum that would rise this year, said Trend Micro
Inc., the world's third-largest antivirus software maker.

Companies lost roughly $20 billion to $30 billion in 2002 from the
virus attacks, up from about $13 billion in 2001, according to various
industry estimates.

"The economic and financial impact of virus attacks will continue to
climb in 2004," Lionel Phang, Trend Micro's Managing Director told
Reuters in an interview. He did not have a forecast for the year.

Spam threats and network viruses will likely become more prevalent in
2004, he said. "The spam threat will increase exponentially, and will
become the hideouts for viruses and hacking programs trying to gain an
entry into the network," he added.

"Blended threats also will remain the standard way to attack networks,
where one virus file will create four to five different activities
within the system."

Phang offered the following example of a blended threat: a
spam-generating virus causes a surge in the company's network traffic
and prompts its network administrators to block the junk e-mail, and
while technicians try to fix the spam problem the virus drops a
program into the system that monitors keystrokes and steals company
passwords and user IDs.

Viruses can gain entry into computer networks via instant messaging
channels, such as Internet Relay Chat (IRC) programs and Time Warner
Inc.'s ICQ service, Phang added.

Natasha David, an analyst with International Data Corp., said spam
would emerge as the key transmission vehicle for viruses in 2004.

"Spammers are going to put viruses and worms in e-mail attachments, so
[junk email] will become more than just a nuisance," she said.

According to IDC, the global market for secure content management,
which includes antivirus solutions, message security and Web
filtering, is expected to hit $6.4 billion in 2007, representing a
compound annual growth rate of 19%.

One attack every month

Last year, there was almost one major virus attack every month,
including the well-known Slammer worm, which shut down Internet
service providers in South Korea, disrupted plane schedules and
knocked out automatic teller machines in January.

The Lovegate Internet e-mail worm surfaced in February, while the
Bugbear and SoBig viruses, which spread via infected emails, appeared
in June.

Analysts said the number of attacks between January and June 2003
exceeded 70,000, which is about twice the rate for 2002.

"About 20 to 40 new and variant virus threats were reported to Trend
Micro on a daily basis worldwide in 2003," Phang said.

The company plans to focus on products and services for the small and
medium businesses this year.

"This is the most vulnerable market segment in 2004 as their awareness
level is really low, they do not have the dedicated IT expertise, and
have a false sense of security about virus attacks, thinking they are
too small a target for such attacks," Phang said.



-
ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org

To unsubscribe email majordomo () attrition org with 'unsubscribe isn'
in the BODY of the mail.