Tech virus downgraded by Network Associates

SAN FRANCISCO: The largest computer security firm, Network Associates Inc., on Friday afternoon downgraded its risk rating on a new computer virus after it failed to bite as hard as the "Love Bug" that hit earlier this month. The company downgraded the threat of the new computer virus to "medium" risk from the "high risk" rating earlier in the day.

Referred to as VBS/NewLove, the "worm" type outbreak had failed to cause much disruption, after raising fears that a rival of the "I Love You" outbreak was about to hit the computer world, experts said.

"We looked at the figures of companies and customers reporting the problem and it didn't go up at all from Thursday," said spokesman for Network Associates John Sun. Sun said the company was maintaining a "medium, on watch" rating because the threat has not totally disappeared.

Security firms late Thursday reported hearing incidents, which they described as more destructive and harder to detect than the widespread "Love Bug" that struck in early May. The alarm was sounded from as high as Washington early Friday as attorney general Janet Reno issued a warning and the FBI launched an investigation.

But experts said the computer virus, VBS/NewLove, lacked the clever delivery mechanism that turned the Love Bug into a global phenomenon, causing billions of dollars damage–a greeting saying "I Love You" and an attached "Love Letter."

In part, computer virus writing requires technical skills to disrupt the internal workings of a personal computer. But they also require that target users' open attachments to launch the malicious code. The new virus apparently lacked that enticement, although it was viewed as technically superior to the Love Bug.

Some computer experts were downplaying the warnings, trumpeted mostly by computer security firms that sell anti-virus products. "This doesn't really deserve the publicity it is getting," said David Chess, research staff member at International Business Machine Corp's Watson Research Center. "It doesn't seem like a significant thing."

The CERT Coordination Center, an emergency response center at Carnegie-Mellon University funded by the Federal Government, also downplayed the threat. "We are yet to receive a single direct report (of the new worm)," said Marck Zajicek of CERT on Friday morning. The Love Bug, within a similar time frame of 12 to 24 hours, had generated hundreds of complaints.

Mikko Hypponen of F-Secure.com, a computer virus expert based in Finland, called the attention the new virus was receiving as "hype" and "overblown." He said in e-mail that his security company had "not received a single direct report from our customers anywhere in the world on this."

Network Associates said that the alarm wasn't overdone, explaining that "people are getting more aware of the problem, not opening strange attachments and running anti-virus software."