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Tuesday: March 8, 2005 |
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NetIQ Corporation NetIQ warns that 69% of UK businesses wide open to viruses and security risks from personal email use It’s no surprise that ‘Mydoom’ is spreading so rapidly London, UK – 6 February 2004 – NetIQ Europe Limited, a subsidiary of NetIQ Corp. (Nasdaq: NTIQ) which is a leading provider of Systems & Security Management and Web Analytics solutions, today said that it is not surprised that the latest ‘Mydoom’ virus is spreading so quickly after a survey found almost 70 percent of UK employees are regularly and knowingly putting their employers’ businesses at risk of viruses and security violations. Of more than 300 Internet users polled by YouGov on behalf of NetIQ, the European research firm discovered that 52 percent of UK respondents regularly access their private email from their work desktops, while 55 percent habitually enter their work email addresses into chatrooms, newsgroups or e-commerce websites. “Access to web-based email systems in the workplace seriously increases the risk of infection from virus,” said Ed Macnair, Content Security business manager at NetIQ EMEA. “To prevent the spread of Mydoom and other viruses, NetIQ recommends that companies utilize gateway proxies for scanning and filtering all email and web content entering the network and to limit access to non-business related sites and restrict all executable and zip files from entering the network.” Employee habits, in addition to the social engineering techniques enable viruses such as “Mydoom” to be distributed rapidly. The “Mydoom” virus launches a executable file disguised as a zipped attachment in what appears to be a business or system based email. The virus also uses a technique called “spoofing” to misrepresent the sender’s email address in order to lull users into opening the email. The virus opens a “backdoor” on a victim’s PC to then use the stolen resources and bandwidth as a proxy for attacks. Although “Mydoom” is currently coded to stop proliferating on February 12, any infected machines will potentially enable the virus writer to route new attacks through infected computers. For more information about content security filtering please visit http://www.netiq.com/products/mma/default.asp About NetIQ NetIQ Europe Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NetIQ Corp. Founded in 1995, NetIQ Corp. (Nasdaq: NTIQ) is a leading provider of Systems & Security Management and Web Analytics solutions. Historically focused on the Windows management market, NetIQ now delivers cross-platform solutions that enhance business performance resulting in higher returns on infrastructure and Web investments. NetIQ products are sold across all continents directly and through a network of authorized NetIQ partners and resellers. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with development and operational personnel in Houston, Texas; Raleigh, N.C.; Bellevue, Wash.; Auckland, New Zealand and Portland, Ore. For more information, please visit NetIQ’s Web site at http://www.netiq.com. NetIQ is a registered trademark of NetIQ Corporation in the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners |