Thursday, February 02, 2006

Another new virus

There's a new computer virus that's getting a lot of press these days. It goes by many names, but is most commonly described as "the one that will delete your entire hard drive on the 3rd of every month!" Although the prediction sounds especially ominous, the reality is that this one is really no different than any of the thousands of others that come out each year. That means that through a few simple steps, you can keep you (and your data!) safe from it:

1. Backup your files. This is probably the most common technology "mistake" that people make today. If you're not backing up your hard drive regularly, you have no hope of recovering your files when such a virus strikes (or when your hard drive dies, or when your system crashes, or when you accidentally delete something, or ...).
2. Ensure your antivirus software is up to date. In order to be catch the most recent viruses, your antivirus program needs to update itself at least once a week. Although each program is slightly different, all will have a place where you can go to check the antivirus file date. If it's more than 8-10 days old, you're at risk!
3. Be smart. This is the most effective tool in the antivirus arsenal. Even with the best high-tech antivirus tools, you still need to be smart when you're online. Don't open attachments if you're not expecting them, even if you know the sender! If you have any doubt about this, reply to the sender and ask them to explain what they've sent. Also, don't fall for trick messages that appear to come from the "administrator" or "support team". It's usually a trap. Again, reply to the sender and ask for more information before you open the attachment.

UPDATE (2/2/06, 8:00pm): So far this week the campus e-mail anti-virus system has caught 2,363 e-mail messages that were infected with viruses. Of those, 2% (46 messages) were infected with this particular one.

posted by Jeff Pestun at 4:39 PM 

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