Priority Interrupt by Steve Ciarcia Like Avoiding a Bus

Ever hear the one about the mid-level manager who arrives at the office every morning, flips on his computer, and scans everything with anti-virus software? He scans the hard drive, system files, RAM, even the CD-ROM. He runs three different anti-virus programs just to make sure. He does this every morning. He does this every day even though his computer has been turned off overnight. Who knows, perhaps something sneaked in between the time he ran the anti-virus scans yesterday and turned on his computer again today. After all, you can't be too careful when it affects your job.

Besides, according to all of the daily news reports, it's a cyber war out there. There are so many deadly computer viruses just waiting for the opportunity to find an unprotected computer that your only defense is obsessive alertness. Constant media reminders about the overwhelming cost and destruction from ILoveYou, Michelangelo, SirCam, and other Internet-born germs make his palms sweat as he quickly yet conscientiously performs his daily search and destroy mission. Our mid-level manager is determined that no two-bit cyber-thug or third-world terrorist is going to infiltrate his computer. After all, you can't be too cautious when it affects your job.

After the scanning is concluded, the leery manager downloads his e-mail from the company Intranet and proceeds to work. He clicks on an e-mail that he sent to himself from his computer at home. Suddenly a strange and horrified look comes over his face. He jumps up, rips the Ethernet connection out of the back of the computer and yanks the power cord out of the wall. Frantically, he dials the network administrator and yells, "We've got a virus! My file is gone! It could only be a virus!"
Almost instantly, the network administrator appears at his desk, still panting from the long run down the hall. Viruses are no minor event. Heading it off early might save hours of system rebuilds later. A quizzical look from the tech and our manager frantically exclaims, "It deleted my budget folder! I worked on it last night and I e-mailed it to myself this morning. I do this all the time. I work on something at home and I e-mail it back to the office. This time, something ate it! It's a deadly virus for sure!"

The network administrator reconnects the computer and sits down at the keyboard. After feverishly typing for 10 minutes, he looks up and says, "You didn't attach the file, sir. I looked at e-mail logs on the server. I can see your e-mail from home but there's no file. You forgot to attach it." With that, he gathers up all the test disks he had expected to need, turns toward the office door, and adds, "I'll be down in the server room if you have any real problems."
The manager frantically paces back and forth. "I never forget to send a file! It must be a virus. It must be a new one that's really insidious." Quickly, he jumps in his chair and logs onto the Internet. "Now, if I can just find one of the anti-virus sites that details a new one that deletes e-mail files. After all, you can't be too careful when it affects your job," he mutters.

As comical as this scenario sounds, I'm sure you've all met an individual like this or have heard of a similar situation. The constant over-hyping about virus alerts and virus destruction in the media has created a paranoid culture within the ranks of some computer users. Is it much ado about nothing? Certainly not.
Anti-virus software is an important application for all computer users. I'm not denying the gravity of the issue, but it shouldn't be cause for paranoia or fear at every newly announced bug in Outlook or Explorer. In the total population of computer users, most have never seen or received a virus. In truth, the easiest virus path into a computer is a dumb user. Despite all of the warnings about e-mail attachments as a source of viruses, a survey last year found that more than 40% of people would open an e-mail appearing to be from someone they know if the following appeared in the subject line: "Great Joke," "Look at this Message," or "Special Offer."

Beware of the media propaganda and don't suspect that every computer anomaly is generated by a virus. For intelligent users, virus management is like avoiding being hit by a bus. Looking both ways before crossing the street is the same as deleting suspect messages and filtering downloads. The best anti-virus technique is the expression of knowledge, not fortification.

steve.ciarcia@circuitcellar.com

Published: July-2002