VNU Net: Microsoft lambasted over Love Bug

By John Leyden, VNU Net

As the net closes in on the creator of the Love Bug virus, which
has left a trail of destruction around the world, analysts today
said Microsoft is partly to blame for the severity and speed at
which the virus spread.

Like the deadly Melissa virus that struck companies last summer,
the Love Bug spreads by email that multiply once opened by a
recipient, sending new messages to everyone in the user’s address
book, brining down entire mail servers in the process.

In a scathing critique, research company Gartner said the
ILOVEYOU, LoveLetter or Love Bug virus shows Microsoft’s attitude
to security remains “too permissive”.

The worm is not only a warning bell to IT professionals, but a
wake-up call to Microsoft. The company needs to upgrade the
security of its products – something Gartner said it asked the
company to do over three years ago.

In a February 1997 research note Michael Zboray, chief
technology officer and chief information security officer at
Gartner Group, said: “Until Microsoft implements containment areas
with a restrictive default security policy, unrestricted use of its
email product should be prevented.”

A Microsoft spokesperson said the company is committed to
improving the security of its products, and caries out continuous
reviews of features within them with the aim of upgrading
security.

“Microsoft follows standard best practice. We are constantly
reviewing and upgrading security features,” she said.

She added that the ultimate responsibility for security lies
with users, and that Microsoft was not responsible if “technology
terrorists” abuse features in its products.

According to reports late today, a 23-year-old male from the
Pandacan area of Manila has been associated with two email
addresses through ISP Super Net from which the virus originated. He
is now prime suspect as the author of the ‘ILOVEYOU’ virus.

Meanwhile, fresh versions of the Love Bug worm are threatening
to wreak fresh havoc on computers across the world.

Kevin Street, technology director at Symantec, said so far the
anti-virus vendor had found six copycat versions of the virus, any
of which could potentially breech defences that have been put in
place to guard against the original worm.

Anti-virus vendor GFI said that it expects several variants of
the virus to appear over the next few weeks, using not only VB
(Visual Basic) script but also Windows Scripting host, Java scripts
and HTML scripts. The company warns that the only way to avoid
being infected by them is to block these scripts at email server
level.

“We are expecting a host of variants over the next few weeks.
Anyone with basic knowledge of visual basic scripting can create
such a virus, so the script kiddies are sure to be at it
immediately,” said Nick Galea, chief executive of GFI.

“Variants could infect even those email users who are currently
protected against the Love Letter virus,” he added.