Virus Cost Estimate For 2001 Tops $10 Billion

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Virus Cost Estimate For 2001 Tops $10 Billion

Posted by timothy on Saturday September 1, 2001 @01:13AM from the say-ahhhhhh dept.

Snootch writes: "CNN has a story on the costs of virii - they're absolutely collossal, and remember that the $10 billion figure is just *so far this year*...scary. The article gives a pretty good breakdown by virus, and while it says little else that the average /. reader won't know by now, it's an interesting read all the same. To quote Red Dwarf's Kryten, 'Smug Mode,' but I note that every single one mentioned in the article, bar one (Code Red), was a client-side Outlook virus ..."

"My other thought was this: Considering that according to the article, nearly half the money was spent cleaning infected systems out, then the virus-checker industry, and therefore the implications of Symantec's recent patent, are even bigger than I realised ... *gulp*" Of course, estimates like these are often made by people with vested interests in the effect such numbers have, and there are a lot of costs that are very tough to estimate accurately -- like sysadmin time.

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All I can say is... by TheLinuxWizard · 2001-09-01 01:15 · Score: -1, Offtopic

Glad I run Linux!!! :P

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Linux Rulez!!!!!!!!!!!
outlook by net.chook · 2001-09-01 01:33 · Score: 1, Offtopic

All your virii are belong to outlook =)

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--chook
1. Re:outlook by Anonymous Coward · 2001-09-01 03:55 · Score: -1, Offtopic
  
  The moderators can do what they like, idiot. It's their mod points. And really, that wasn't funny. Grow up and gain some maturity.
Re:Mission critical by smunt · 2001-09-01 01:33 · Score: 0, Offtopic

This must be Thursday, I never could get the hang of Thursdays.

Is that SO?
cnn by devonbowen · 2001-09-01 02:03 · Score: 0, Offtopic

Is it just me or have others noticed that a large fraction of Slashdot stories come from CNN these days? I read Slashdot for things that I can't find in popular media. Otherwise, what's the point?
Devon
Re:I run Windows & Outlook, never had a proble by Computer+suck! · 2001-09-01 02:20 · Score: 0, Offtopic

no I am not. I have not had a BSOD ONCE!

Win2K is _stable_ (not great, i'd love to be running a BeOS-a-like, but hey)
Win2X is poo.
it's quite simple.

playing my super-kewl, stable Loki games

While I play _new_ computer games... but hey ;-)

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Insightful but Overrated Troll
Re:I run Windows & Outlook, never had a proble by Anonymous Coward · 2001-09-01 03:27 · Score: -1, Offtopic

You stupid Chinese idiot!
Just means too many people are using windows. by Leimy · 2001-09-01 04:05 · Score: 0, Offtopic

HEHEHEHE
Hacked servers = free pr0n! by Anonymous Coward · 2001-09-01 05:41 · Score: -1, Offtopic

You know, everyone keeps focusing on the bad side of worms, virii, and hacked systems in general. What about the good side?

For example, if you leave an unpatched IIS server on the internet for a couple weeks, you can almost guarantee that you'll find some free pr0n DVD rips as hidden files in your Recycling Bin.

So, come on, lighten up on Microsoft - every cloud has a silver lining.
(And yes, I'm speaking from experience.)
Re:Pedantic Man: The plural of virus is NOT virii by Anonymous Coward · 2001-09-01 07:03 · Score: -1, Offtopic

Warez isn't a real word either but it is cool. I will use virii until the day my warez site gets taken down d00d.
Sneezing, the 20 billion dollar menace! by zenyu · 2001-09-01 07:24 · Score: 0, Offtopic

10 billion is a lot? I haven't looked at the figures lately but I'm sure our world economy is north of 10 trillion a year. We should be fighting sneezing at work if we should care about this virus.

Besides, it could make us a lot of money. Simply fire all the people who click on the "infect me" icon. Consider it a free IQ test administered randomly.