The Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), a Ministry of
Defence science and technology organisation, has unveiled new
software that it says will prevent e-mail viruses from spreading by
monitoring what leaves e-mail boxes instead of the more traditional
means of monitoring what comes into them.
The “Anna Kournikova” and “I love you” e-mail viruses crippled
computer networks throughout the world within hours of their
initial release. However, DERA believes that the rapid and
uncontrolled distribution of such e-mail based viruses will soon be
consigned to history, thanks to its "::Mail" application.
E-mail viruses like "Anna Kournikova" are propagated by simple
Visual Basic (VB) scripts embedded in harmless looking e-mail file
attachments. Once opened by unsuspecting users, these scripts
automatically forward the rogue e-mail message to every address in
the user’s e-mail contact list, resulting in infection of vast
numbers of computer systems within an incredibly short period of
time. DERA’s ::Mail software prevents such widespread infection by
effectively blocking the propagation of e-mail based viruses.
