Patent ID: 7093293

Claim:
A computer program product embodied on a computer readable medium for detecting an outbreak of a computer virus on a computer apparatus, said computer program product comprising: (i) measurement computer code operable to measure one or more measurement parameters indicative of non virus specific activity of said computer apparatus over a respective measurement period; (ii) comparison computer code operable to compare said one or more measurement parameters with respective predetermined threshold levels; and (iii) signal generating computer code operable to generate a signal indicative of an outbreak of a computer virus if one or more of said one or more measurement parameters crosses a respective predetermined threshold level; wherein one of said measurement parameters is e-mail throughput associated with said computer apparatus, where said e-mail throughput is measured in a form dependent upon at least one of a number of e-mails, and a total of size values for said e-mails within a predetermined time period.