Cambridge, UK, February 8, 2001 - With Valentine's Day fast approaching, many users from around the world have been inundated by warnings from some anti-virus vendors regarding the threat of a new strain of the ILOVEYOU virus. Kaspersky Lab would like to point out that the aforementioned warnings...
Cambridge, UK, February 8, 2001 - With Valentine's Day fast approaching, many users from around the world have been inundated by warnings from some anti-virus vendors regarding the threat of a new strain of the ILOVEYOU virus. Kaspersky Lab would like to point out that the aforementioned warnings are simply a form of virus hysteria, and have nothing in common with reality. Let us explain:
Statistics confirm that there is no direct connection between a specific holiday and the appearance of new viruses "in-the-wild" exploiting this particular holiday's theme in order to disguise their malicious intentions. Moreover, during the holidays, we see quite a different trend as the number of new viruses reported to Kaspersky Lab usually decreases. This, first of all, is determined by the fact that viruses are created by people, who would rather spend a holiday with their friends or colleagues than waste time trying to write and distribute computer viruses.
"Following the practice of issuing virus alerts for days like Valentine's Day, we could extend this tradition to every single holiday of the year, for instance Columbus Day in the US or Christmas Day around the world etc. We don't think this would stimulate users to be wary of viruses - quite the contrary, they would loose the truth in a stream of idle fears, and, therefore, would not be prepared to face a real threat," said Denis Zenkin, Head of Corporate Communications for Kaspersky Lab.
In conclusion, the possibility of an outbreak of a virus epidemic on February 14th is no higher than on any other day of the year. Recent history shows that nothing special happened last Valentine's Day. In other words, users should be practicing good computer security rules as they do every day, and under no circumstances should a user open any attached, suspicious objects (even if they are received from friends or acquaintances) before checking them with updated anti-virus software.
Rather than fear mongering, Kaspersky Lab has decided to make a special offer for Valentine's Day to those who purchase Kaspersky Anti-Virus Gold and Kaspersky Anti-Virus Platinum in the Kaspersky Lab online store. If you purchase either of these two products before March 1st, you will receive Kaspersky Inspector, the world's most advanced integrity checker allowing a user to effectively track all illegal changes on a computer, for FREE.
