Beware! V-day e-mails may damage your computer

Friday, 13 February 2004, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Lovebirds beware! Don't be fooled by messages of love that come via e-mail this Valentine's Day. If experts are to be believed, some of the most deadly Internet viruses over the last couple of years have used the promise of love on Valentine's Day to wreak havoc in computer networks across the world. And this year won't be any different, warn experts. "Though we don't have any specific information about virus attacks on Valentine's Day this year, we are on full alert and not leaving anything to chance," said K.K. Bajaj, director of the Indian computer emergency response team (CERT-In). CERT-In is a crack team set up by the federal government's department of information technology to monitor threats to computer networks in the country from viruses or any other sources. This organisation also offers training to government and private sector companies to make their IT network secure from cyber attacks. "Usually every year cyber criminals use days like Feb 14, when a large number of e-mails are exchanged across the world, to set off damaging viruses that can badly affect computer networks," Bajaj told IANS. "So this year we are on full alert and trying to spread awareness among the Internet users to be very cautious in accepting mails from unknown sources, especially if the mail is related to Valentine's Day." Experts say viruses are set off in the form of e-mails with catchy subject lines such as "Happy Valentine's Day" or "I Love U" or any phrase that has the word Valentine in it. The mass-mailing virus can originate from within India or abroad and can leave a devastating trail, particularly in the financial and technology sectors that have extensive IT networks across the country. Internet penetration in India has grown from a base of just four million users in 1998 to 25 million now and studies show most of the Internet usage takes place in offices. IT experts suggests that all companies and organisations teach employees safe computing practices and to be suspicious of any unsolicited e-mail attachments as part of basic cyber security training. According to a research firm, the "I Love You" virus -- set off couple of years back around Valentine's Day -- caused more than tens of billions of dollars worth of damage to computer systems worldwide. Its wide dissemination through the Internet was helped by the ingenuity of the email in which it was included. More than 90 percent of the viruses are spread through unsolicited e-mail messages containing attachments.
Source: IANS
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