avecho stops new virus that passed leading av scanner

At 10:15 on Wednesday 6th August 03 avecho GlassWall stopped a variation of the MiMail virus that had already successfully passed through a leading industry virus scanner, with up to date virus definitions. This demonstrates yet again the futility of relying upon scanning or heuristics as a reliable method of protection from viruses.

August, 2003 -- At 10:15 on Wednesday 6th August 03 avecho GlassWall stopped a variation of the MiMail virus that had already successfully passed through a leading industry virus scanner, with up to date virus definitions.

This demonstrates yet again the futility of relying upon scanning or heuristics as a reliable method of protection from viruses.
avecho were first to stop the early strains of the MiMail virus on Friday 25 July 03 at 1.15pm. At the time avecho neither knew nor cared what the virus was: it was just stopped. It was a full six days before the rest of the anti-virus community woke up and named the virus. By then a significant incubator community had been established and in all probability real damage and cost incurred by users.

avecho spokesperson, Chris Dye, said Anti-virus vendors gain credibility by naming the problem once they have detected it. There seems to be a pride in who detects a new virus. This is a game being played at the expense of the user, as they rely upon one of their users becoming infected before they can react.

Traditional anti-virus vendors are just fuelling the fire. They raise fears to aid their marketing by publishing the growing number of sexily named viruses. At the same time they feed the egos of the virus writers. They do not seem to understand that naming new viruses is exactly what the virus writers want.

Obviously they have a vested interest in such a self sustaining system and we just cannot understand why they are being allowed to get away with this when there is technology that simply kills the virus threat. Users really need to be asking just what they are getting from their av vendors.

avecho GlassWall technology just deals with viruses: it does not even know what they are. We certainly don't give them power by naming them. Our engine does not use definitions and does not need updates, so there is no need to keep our customers up to date with the latest info. We don't need to scare them and we will not boost the ego of the virus writer."

Chris concluded, What surprises us is that users are expected to pay for an anti-virus service that clearly does not provide a service that they deserve. They are treated as test guinea pigs by the av vendors and they are still vulnerable to any new virus that appears."

about avecho
avecho are Internet security specialists. avecho.com provides secure Internet services for all email users. Our mailCENTERS provide the most accurate and manageable anti-spam service and the worlds first signature free anti-virus service that provides absolute protection from all email viruses.