Destructive computer viruses from history

Sat Jan 28 16:03:07 UTC 2006

> 
> 
> On Fri, 27 Jan 2006, Gadi Evron wrote:
> > "Even so, 300,000 infected users worldwide is not a terribly large
> > amount when compared to previous worms like Sober or Mydoom. However,
> > with this worm it isn't the quantity of infected users, it is the
> > destructive payload which is most concerning."
> 
> Vmyths used to be a great source for debunking a lot of the virus
> hype. Everything old seems to be new again.  In 1999, the Chernobyl
> virus was the end of the world.  It erased disks and BIOS of computers.
> 
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/329688.stm

Fast forward 2005. What is the proper response for a global
impact of ~200K machines that may suffer data loss? I
don't think that inter-continental mobilization is the
answer. 

Wall Street may agree as well. AV and security
companies gained nothing from this outbreak other than incurred
operational expense - a data point to add to the "is the customer
paying their fair share" argument.

-M<