Home users do not routinely use firewalls, leaving their machines vulnerable to those looking to plant zombies. Administrators often leave ports open unnecessarily, and can rely too heavily on software instead of vigilant monitoring. The American Electronics Association, now known as AEA, released a list of privacy principles for Congress to consider. A group of German banking industry watchdogs has begun a security check of European Internet banks and brokerages as a proactive measure. If they find security problems, the group will discuss the matter with the bank in question.
Word documents created on infected machines can spread the virus.
This version of Melissa must first infect a Macintosh machine, but if that user shares an infected document with a Windows user, the self-mailing capabilities can kick in. No massive outbreak is expected, however. Some outgoing Hotmail e-mail has been blocked from sites hosted by certain ISPs thought to be friendly to spammers. The mail was thrown away and the senders not notified. Chinese Ties A worm that may have been used to infiltrate Microsoft's internal network last year apparently sends passwords and other data to a now defunct e-mail account in China.