Valentine's Day 'mail massacre' on the cards

According to a report published today by IDC, 37 per cent of users would open an email entitled 'I LOVE YOU' on 14 February if it came from a known source.

Rob Hailstone, an analyst at IDC, said: "Despite all the publicity the Love Bug virus created last year, we discovered that users are the weakest link in a corporate defence against malicious code. They can spread viruses in a matter of seconds."

Mark Sunner, CTO at anti-virus vendor Messagelabs, said: "Human beings are naturally inquisitive, which makes us susceptible for these so called socially engineered viruses. Valentine's Day makes it easy for virus writers to create havoc on a corporate network."
Paul Banjo, VP of BT's Ignite internet access service, said: "The Valentine's Day Love Bug virus is just one example of these socially engineered viruses. Christmas cards are another typical example of companies being hit by this type of attack."

The self replicating VBS/Loveletter.worm virus appeared in inboxes around the globe in May last year, causing email servers to grind to a halt. It was estimated to have cost businesses $2.5bn world wide.