Think twice before double clicking on your e-mail attachment!

This is sound, yet annoying, advice, especially around the Lunar New Year, when dozens, if not hundreds, of greetings flood your e-mail box.

Care is crucial now, as an e-mail attachment could be infected with Mydoom, the year's first major Internet virus.

Experts warn computer users to be cautious. They suggest Internet security is of the utmost importance.

"For certain, the number of Internet viruses will continue to grow this year," Cao Kaibin, an information security expert with CCW Research, a Beijing-based IT data tracking house, told China Business Weekly.

Better understanding and use of Internet bugs have resulted in an increasing number of hackers, who pose a severe threat to ordinary computer users.

Moreover, the increasing number of netizens make it easier for such viruses to spread, Cao said.

Corporate computer users are more likely this year to suffer greater financial losses due to virus attacks, Lionel Phang, managing board director of Trend Micro, the world's No 3 anti-virus software vendor, was quoted as saying.

Companies around the world lost a combined US$55 billion last year due to computer viruses, indicate Trend Micro's statistics.

That was substantially higher than the US$22 billion in 2002 and US$13 billion in 2001.

However, the global economic fallout from Mydoom alone, also called Novarg, has been estimated at US$38.5 billion since January 26, indicates Computer Economics, an Internet monitoring company.

The virus broke out on January 26.

Analysts estimate in China, more than 200,000 computers have been infected.

The virus, widely described as the most voracious Internet worm ever, disrupted a website operated by US software maker SCO Group.

Virus attacks aimed at software loopholes is the most dangerous killer, suggests the latest security report released by Internet security research house TruSecure.

"These viruses are often specifically targetted. And you cannot provide a solution before finding out where the loophole is. Therefore, it is tougher to deal with," Cao said.

Last year, viruses SQL Slammer, Blaster and Nachi fit into this category, he added.

According to Vincent Weafer, senior manager of security solution provider Symantec's security emergency centre, such virus attacks will occur between two and four times this year.

Junk e-mail, often called spam, can contain viruses, and, as a result, they are likely to be major carriers of Internet viruses this year, said Natasha David, an analyst at international data tracking company IDC.

Spam senders tend to write the viruses in their mail, David said.

Junk mail, computer viruses and Internet attacks are becoming increasingly integrated, Cao said.

Computer users must be more alert about Internet security, and they should upgrade their security management software, he added.

Small and medium-sized companies in China, although often weak in terms of computer technology, must not expect a cureall solution that will allow them to let their guard down, Cao added.

Trend Micro this year will dedicate itself to small and medium-sized companies, which are the "most fragile targets, usually without their own IT personnel," in terms of anti-virus products and service, Phang was quoted as saying.

Software vendors should expect their businesses to grow this year.

Beijing Rising Technology Co Ltd, a major domestic anti-virus software maker, predicts business will be better this year.

"Our business revenues grew more than 50 per cent last year, and we expect a higher growth rate this year," Mao Yiding, Rising's president, told China Business Weekly.

Between 2002 and 2007, sales of security software products in China will witness a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.5 per cent, IDC said.

Sales will reach US$198 million by 2007, the research firm said.

(Business Weekly 02/09/2004 page1)