Even self-replicating e-mail viruses can be contained a lot faster than ever before. Most astute IT managers and administrators installed filters on their mail servers to block incoming messages that contained SoBig.F within a couple of hours of that nasty bug's discovery, minimizing the toll it took.
I blocked more than 8,000 infected messages on our relatively small editorial server during the first week that SoBig.F was on the loose; I've heard that some larger servers blocked up to 300 infected messages per minute. Of course, that approach wasn't perfect either. Many mail servers quickly became overloaded, and some ended up out of commission for a while.
Still, the imperfections in current e-mail filtering technology are a small price to pay for the benefits the technology provides. And you can usually find any number of solutions to get your organization over the rough spots. So while spammers always seem to have some new tricks up their sleeves, and they're constantly developing ways to get around our deterrents, legitimate developers are working just as hard, if not harder, to beat them at their dirty games.
Meanwhile, my users are breathing a collective sigh of relief because they were spared the effects of SoBig.F and other recent threats. And if they're happy, I'm happy. So what's to worry about?
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