Anxieties are flooding through the computer industry, increased by episodes such as the Melissa and Love Bug viruses, which disabled many computer networks earlier this year when they arrived as e-mails with file attachments which staff unwittingly downloaded. But while big companies installed sophisticated firewalls, small firms and consumers lack awareness and protection. Manufacturers have been called on to build firewalls into any new computer or telecoms equipment. Learning how to distinguish a bona fide customer from a fraudster is a problem that many small businesses are having to tackle by buying internet security. BT's Entrust and the Post Office's ViaNet services both issue subscribers who have passed credit rating tests with a wraparound code that they can use to tag their emails.
Customers see the code and know the transaction is genuine.
But the overall problem is compounded because outside the European Union there are less standard virus checks. At the moment Internet service providers are walking away from it.