Experts seek global effort to counter virus attacks

International laws and protective software are crucial to countering the growing threat of spam, viruses and phishing to computer users, experts told a seminar.

"The current legislation will not stop spam or viruses as the problem is far too international and laws act on national boundaries. A global act or law is needed to punish offenders," said Dr Jan Hruska, Chief Executive of Sophos, one of Europe's largest computer security companies.

"Equally, users, especially large companies, must constantly update their anti-virus, anti-spam software and educate themselves to fight this problem. The war is continuing and most battles are won," Hruska told delegates.

The seminar was organised jointly by the General Information Authority and Al Adeeb Information Technology, a specialist distributor of IT security solutions.

Hruska drew attention to viruses, the worst threat to computers. "Virus attacks are dangerous because it stops a company from working, unlike spam that only causes loss to productivity. Modification and corrupting data is extremely dangerous and the worst side effect of viruses. It is more dangerous than wiping out data."

While stressing the importance of educating users, he urged organisations to regularly update their anti-virus software and patch computers with the latest security patches. "Viruses are increasing and they replicate from one computer to another, they steal system resources and have malicious side effects."

There are more than 100,000 viruses and they are increasing at a rate of about 800 each month.

However, while noting that viruses are severely limited in mobile phones as each phone has a different compatibility, he sounded a warning.

"This could change in future as we move more into uniformity of operating systems and standardisation. Then, more viruses will be written for these systems."

Hruska also said phishing is on the increase due to the popularity of internet transactions, mainly banking.

"We will see more phishing in future and here fixed passwords are a problem," he said, calling for the use of dynamic passwords although it is an expensive proposition.

"Banks must consider using dynamic passwords. Technology is available and this would make the criminals' life more difficult. Today, you don't need guns to attack a bank, phishing is the weapon used by criminals."

Set up in 1985, the $160 million (Dh587.71 million) Sophos is based in Oxford, United Kingdom, and has offices worldwide.