from drudge:

Big groups act on e-mail threat By Jean Eaglesham, Legal Correspondent, and Thomas Catan in New York

Some of the UK's largest companies are blocking electronic mail over the New Year in a bid to thwart the arrival of a threatened wave of up to 200,000 computer viruses. The move mirrors growing fears in the United States that "cyber-terrorists" and anarchists will try to mark the millennium by sabotaging computer systems.

Earlier this week a number of US air force bases said they would block access to their web sites over the new year to try to ward off viruses.

Glaxo Wellcome, the pharmaceuticals giant, and the car manufacturers Vauxhall and Volkswagen are among the big companies planning to block e-mails.

Ford yesterday refused to disclose whether it was following suit but said it was "ensuring the system was safe from outside infection".

The companies fear their e-mail systems could offer an entry point for new viruses, many of which may exploit concerns over the millennium bug - the inability of some systems and programs to cope with the date change to January 1, 2000. A new virus could display a message saying, for example, that programs are "not year-2000 compliant".

"This could create a considerable amount of confusion, especially in the more paranoid organisations," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, an anti-virus company.

Computer experts warn that hackers could also introduce genuine year 2000 problems. "To block all e-mails could be seen as an over-reaction to viruses alone, but then there's the year 2000 question. Simply because a system is compliant now doesn't mean it will remain so," said Lars Davies, a research fellow at the University of London.

Companies that are blocking access are having to resort to old-fashioned forms of communication. Glaxo Wellcome said it had back-up fax arrangements in place across the world for the 24 to 48 hours its e-mail would be down. It added that "very, very few" employees would be working over the affected period.

Other companies are stepping up their warnings to employees. British Telecommunications said it was aware of the increase in viruses that would be triggered by the date change and had alerted all its employees with remote access to its intranet.

British Aerospace said it was running e-mail as normal but watching out for specific viruses - "we have a very good idea where a lot of these are coming from or could come from".

-- a (a@a.a), December 29, 1999

Answers

This is the stupidest thing any company could do. Problem is that most people dont understand how mailers work.

If you dont allow to come in mail for several days it piles up in the queues of either the next preferred server or stays on the server trying to send it.

When the server is re-enabled all the mail comes in like a flood. If a virus is waiting it will come in and they wont know a virus is in a message until the recipient reads it.

-- hamster (hamster@mycage.com), December 29, 1999.

The only way I know to defeat an email virus is to confirm messages by phone with the sender BEFORE you open the 'mail'. If you can't confirm---DELETE without opening.

-- Lobo (atthelair@yahoo.com), December 29, 1999.