ExploreZip virus mauls London company

The ExploreZip virus has caused widespread damage to the computer network of advertising and marketing company Broadway UK. Although it has been known for some time the virus was in the wild -- not confined to a controlled environment -- the attack could spell trouble for other UK businesses.

Dell Green, manager of Broadway UK says the damage caused is extensive. "It wiped out a load of files on our server turning their value to zero after December the first. It seems to fit the description of ExploreZip."

According to Green, Broadway UK's Anti-Virus program -- Network Associates -- failed to detect the malevolent intruder. Jack Clark, European product manager for Network Associates, says his company cannot be held responsible however. Clark says that if Green's company had taken all necessary precautions it would not be in its current predicament. "If they were using the latest dat. file but didn't have a certain file, they may not have detected it. But the extra dat.file was available way before this went live."

Clark says this episode is further evidence that computer users need to make use of automatic updates to their anti-virus software rather than relying on the occasional patch. He adds, "A weekly update is not as quick as someone sending an email. It shows that people have to have automatic updates."