The next big computer virus outbreak could wreak havoc among British businesses.
A survey by security company McAfee has found that many companies are not doing enough to protect themselves against a computer virus as virulent as Code Red or Nimda.

The research revealed that many companies are risking infection because they do not update their anti-virus software frequently enough.

It also found that some companies only bother to get the latest protection against computer viruses when there is a big outbreak.

Although computer viruses are circulating on the net in large numbers, 2002 has - so far - not seen a computer virus outbreak on the scale seen in 2001 when the Code Red and Nimda viruses struck.

Research by anti-virus company McAfee has found that this period of calm has made technology managers at many companies complacent about the threat that viruses pose.

Although 92% of those questioned said they had the staff, cash and computers to cope with computer viruses, 35% of companies have suffered serious disruption to their business as they clean up after an infection.
Sal Viveros, a spokesman for McAfee, said the contradiction between claims of preparedness and damage done shows that many companies only worry about the malicious programs when they have to.

Mr Viveros said that the research revealed that few small companies employ someone full-time to protect their network.

Instead, he said, the security job fell to those that oversaw the running of the whole computer network.

These people are usually so overworked that they only worry about security when something goes wrong or a virus strikes, he said.

The research revealed that only a third of businesses update their anti-virus software daily. Others do it weekly (30%), monthly (10%) or only when there is a big outbreak (5%).

"Many are coping with the fire now," said Mr Viveros, "they are not being very proactive about security."

Unfortunately the job of protecting a network was only going to get harder, he said. Figures collected by ICSA Labs shows that the numbers of viruses in circulation and the number of machines being infected is constantly climbing.

"There will come a day when these people cannot keep on top of all the viruses," said Mr Viveros.

As viruses got smarter they became harder to protect against and more of a headache for anyone charged with securing a computer network, said Mr Viveros.

"It does not take someone to respond to an e-mail anymore," he said, "these things look for vulnerabilities all by themselves."