Y2K is behind us ... or is it?
Experts warn that 2000 may see a plague of viruses
By Doug Harper -- Industrial Distribution, 2/1/2000
Before you congratulate yourself too earnestly for weathering the dreaded "Millennium Bug," you should be aware that many computer experts say the worst may be yet to come. They claim that the year 2000 could see a plague of real millennium bugs propagated by hackers. The fear is that hackers, vying for "bragging rights" in their close-knit and competitive community, will want to see who can be the first to bring corporate computer systems to their knees in the new year.And their job may actually be simplified by the massive software tinkering that preceded Y2K. The experts point out that so much computer code has been rewritten, modified and tweaked recently that at least some of it will have the unintended effect of compromising computer security. They note that in the process of correcting code, programmers created numerous "backdoors" to computer systems that may still be open to hackers. As a result, security experts predict an infestation of worms, viruses, Trojan horses and other mischief makers.
And Microsoft, for one, is taking the threat seriously. Because of the overwhelming success of many of its products, mighty Microsoft has long represented the very apotheosis of the transcendental software company. But thanks to its prosperity, Microsoft has also become the ultimate target for hackers. And the company is feeling particularly vulnerable as it prepares to introduce Windows 2000 this month.
Microsoft recently noted its concern "...that there is the potential for viruses and hoaxes to be a problem around the changeover to the Year 2000."
And the company advises that, "The use of antivirus software tools can help detect and eliminate viruses which may cause damage to your computing environment."
In fact, Microsoft was so concerned about Y2K viruses that it provided access to the Web sites of nine antivirus software companies on its own Y2K Web site at: http://www. microsoft.com/y2k/antivirus/AntiVirus.htm. Each of the vendors -- Central Command; Computer Associates International; Data Fellows; Network Associates; Norman ASA; Panda Software; Sophos; Symantec Corp.; and Trend Micro -- were offering free 90 day trials of their products.
While the offer was scheduled to expire at year-end, many antivirus software vendors routinely provide free time-limited demos of their products on a continuing basis.
Just before last Christmas, lyrics meant to be sung to the tune of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" were making the rounds. They admonished:
"You better print files,
your hard drive could die,
you better download,
I'm tellin' you why,
Y2K is coming to town."
Considering that hackers are working hard to make the "Millennium Bug" a reality, it's still excellent advice. Particularly in the first months of the new year, it will be more important than ever to religiously back-up files to removable media and to store them in an off-site location. In fact, if it is possible to do so, you should isolate mission-critical data on a server that is not accessible by modem at all. Fire walls offer decent protection against unauthorized access. But the highest degree of security against snooping is to remove all outside access, included that provided by LANs, WANs, the Internet, intranets and extranets.
But now that you've survived Y2K you shouldn't let a little thing like a virus stop you from sending your comments and/or opinions to dcharper@earthlink.net.
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