CNET News.com: Virus hit fewer machines, did more damage

“Antivirus experts say that although the Worm.ExploreZip
worm penetrated fewer machines than earlier viruses, it did far
more damage to its victims.”

” ‘It is not as widespread and it didn’t spread as quickly as
Melissa, but it’s a lot worse,’ said Wells, referring to the
Melissa virus that was spread, like Worm.ExploreZip, via email
earlier this year. Still, he said, Worm.ExploreZip spread faster
than any other virus except Melissa, boosted by the increasing use
of email, both by individuals and companies.”

“Experts have found one aspect of the Worm.ExploreZip infection
is worse than originally expected. Instead of spreading solely by
email, it can in some cases move over the local area networks
(LANs) common in many offices. That occurs if an infected machine
has access to data on another machine’s hard drive using a ‘share’
function.”

“Thompson worries that the pace and seriousness of virus attacks
is escalating rapidly. … ‘The bad guys have caught on that they
can do blitzkrieg efforts,’ said Thompson. ‘It’s a fearsome
specter, a virus that can spread as quickly as Melissa with a nasty
payload like Worm.ExploreZip.’ “

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