While these hoaxes do not infect systems, they are time consuming and costly to handle. Chain letters are an irritation rather than a major problem. They can be a way of distributing viruses and trojans. The impact of an infection of malicious code is as varied as any function that can be performed using a programming technique, eg. System flooding, system shutdown, deletion of data, data capture, data transfer etc.
Malicious code can impact on one or all aspects of the security requirements ie.
Confidentiality, availability and integrity. Malicious Software Countermeasures 1216. Each organisation should develop a malicious software strategy which clearly outlines the objectives and procedures for malicious software control and recovery. The risk of infection cannot be completely mitigated, and each site will need to develop a cost-effective solution appropriate for their environment. Discretion should be used in the source of software and data.