FORT WORTH, Texas/EWORLDWIRE/Jan. 28, 2004 --- C I Host, a global leader in Web hosting, Internet infrastructure and software development, protects its 205,000 clients around the clock - so the latest wave of viruses has put the company on alert."The Mydoom virus has the potential to become more widespread then all of the other big virus outbreaks put together," said Christopher Faulkner, "One in every dozen e-mails carries the virus. So far, the damage is minimal. But the preeminent danger is that one virus strain has a key logger."
Faulkner said key loggers are designed to monitor key strokes and to detect web addresses of Internet banking services. The unsuspected user, if infected, can disclose account numbers and passwords.
"The residual affect for the next few days will be an overall slowing of the entire Internet," Faulkner predicted. "As warnings go, this virus attack is the equivalent of an orange alert."
C I Host hosts more than 10 million e-mail accounts around the world. The company's 24/7 security checks on Tuesday detected an average of 5,000 infected messages per minute.
Faulkner said virus attacks and the need for constant software updates and patches is one of the leading reasons for growth in managed services hosting.
To combat viruses, the mantra remains the same: dispose of unknown e-mails; do not open unknown attachments; assume any unknown e-mail is not only spam, but also virus laden. The number one tool of virus writers, hackers and identity thieves is social engineering.
"When it comes to e-mail, the most important key on your keyboard is the delete button," Faulkner said. "If there is any doubt, don't open it. Everyone should think of this as a national priority."
Faulkner advises that all businesses and individual users install and constantly update anti-virus software; keep software/operating systems current; install firewalls; change passwords regularly; and beware callers that attempt to find out information through "social engineering".
About C I Host
C I Host (www.cihost.com), based in the Dallas/Fort Worth market, is a Web hosting and Internet solutions provider, domain name registrar (DNR) and application service provider (ASP) serving 200,000 individual consumers and businesses in 182 countries worldwide.
C I Host creates business-class Web hosting solutions for the small- and medium-enterprise (SME) market, with the broadest portfolio of managed hosting and value-added services in the industry. C I Host is accredited by ICANN to register domain names.
C I Host is HIPAA-compliant and has passed the SAS70 audit.
C I Host has been ranked #1 in speed by the Adoloma Web Hosting Guide. C I Host has been consistently ranked among the Top 5 Web hosting companies out of 16,000 around the globe by c|net's Ultimate Web Host List, HostPulse, WebHostsOnline.com and HostChart.com. C I Host was named among the Top 25 Web hosting companies by HostIndex.com.
C I Host offers turn-key services ranging from initial domain name registration to custom dedicated servers for e-commerce on today's Web. The company offers innovative packages and services to the Internet community.
C I Host operates three diverse data centers across the United States, with its main facility and Network Operations Center in Bedford, Texas. C I Host also has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and London.
All telco-grade, tier-1 data centers are wholly owned and operated by C I Host and consist of redundant diesel generator backups and a temperature-controlled secure environment with fully redundant UPS capability. All server hardware is fully tested and configured for optimal performance. Daily Web server backups and full fire protection guard against any data loss. To deliver speed and reliability, C I Host's servers are connected to two OC-12 fiber connections, five DS-3 and two OC-3 lines from
five diverse Internet backbones for a total of more than 2.6 Gigabits of available bandwidth.
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