Virus watch: Should we fear a Blaster disaster?

Companies and PC users in the UK are being warned of a new virus threat today, and while Blaster/Lovesan is yet to set the alarm bells ringing, it should serve as a reminder about the importance of an effective patching strategy.

The worm attacks a Windows vulnerability which has been flagged up since mid-July.

But despite likely widespread occurrences of the flaw in the popular operating system the virus may yet fail to really take hold, according to anti-virus experts at Network Associates.

David Emm, marketing manager for Network Associates' Avert unit, said: "The lion's share of activity with this virus has been in the US, where it broke overnight, but we've seen a significant number within the UK already today and it is affecting both home and business users."

Network Associates has given the virus a medium-level risk warning but Emm doesn't expect to see that rating increase.

"We don't expect to see this virus hit the highest alert ratings. There is the potential there for this to hit lots of machines, but it is not on the same scale as something like Slammer which spread within about 10 minutes."

As with all virus threats companies are advised to ensure their machines are patched and their anti-virus up to date, but despite this worm attacking a known vulnerability Emm was not critical of IT managers who had failed to patch their systems.

"There is always the art of the possible, " said Emm. "If something attacks a vulnerability which has gone unpatched for 12 months then it looks bad, but if something hits after just a month or two then there is a case for saying 'this came out of leftfield - we weren't expecting that'."

However, if Lovsan does pass without hitting the most serious levels of infection and propagation then IT managers should do a lot more than just count themselves lucky.

The scare, if that is what it proves to be, should serve as a further reminder about the importance of patching systems and remaining proactive, rather than reactive in the fight to safeguard your network.

This is a trend the security market has identified - with products and services aimed at spotting vulnerabilities before the exploit comes along.

"There has been a shift from protection to detection," said Emm.