The consequences of porn virus have not yet 'fallen'

The outbreak of the Nyxem.D worm hidden behind sex pictures is expected during the past two weeks but it is still not controversial for security experts whether it is necessary to make users too worried about a certain risk.

Warnings about worms can help many people avoid data loss because they have enough time to move important files and scan viruses on the computer.But others argue that a "PC apocalypse" has gone smoothly, making users indifferent to network security recommendations.

Nyxem.D (name given by British security firm Sophos) is also known as Grew, Blackmal, MyWife orCME-24, depending on the calling method of each security software company.The disagreement in naming led many people to call it the Kama Sutra worm because it hid behind pornographic files.Nyxem.D is programmed to erase and write information on infected computers yesterday (February 3).

"Completely contradictory expectations," said Vincent Weafer, director of Symantec Security Response."We tested the customer support system and found that only a few people around the world called and said they were potentially affected."

The city of Milan (Italy) has shut down the entire system of more than 10,000 computers to ensure safety after an infected case has been detected.But representatives of all three leading antivirus software makers Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro have confirmed that the Kama Sutra has not caused widespread damage.

"You have to be alert to warnings. Some companies have released 'scary' statistics and refer to it as a global disaster. But that hasn't happened," Weafer said.(Security firm F-Secure on February 2 announced a world map to confirm that the virus has spread on PC systems everywhere.)

However, other companies claim that the recommendation for the Kama Sutra worm is grounded."There may be hundreds of thousands of computers recorded with files inserted yesterday," said Ken Dunham, director of the quick response team at iDefense (USA)."But in the end we only recorded one insignificant announcement. This must be considered a victory for the efforts of the security community."

F-Secure experts still insist on declaring "the storm hasn't melted.""Most of the infected systems are home computers. We'd love to think that everyone has killed the virus, but unfortunately this is not true. The truth will only expose this weekend or early next week." , Mikko Hypponen, F-Secure's research director, said.