What's new at the Firewall

Deck: 
Utilities search for ways to combat viruses and spam.
Fortnightly Magazine - January 2004
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Utilities search for ways to combat viruses and spam.

If you had to pick a couple of technologies that modern utilities can't function without, e-mail would have to top the list. Yet it usually doesn't grab the attention of executives these days nearly so much as outage management or SCADA systems.

The coming year may change that, as problems from spam and viruses reach near-epidemic proportions.

E-mail, and viruses, and spam-oh my!

More Than a Mere Nuisance

Until the past year or so, when utilities worried about e-mail security, they focused on viruses and "worms," but not "spam." Like many other business sectors, utilities took quite a hit a few years ago from virulent viruses like I LUV U, Melissa, and Nimda. At Ameren, for example, 800 hours of technical staff time was devoted to the recovery from I LUV U alone, says Mike Knott, Ameren's supervisor of network operations.

Since then, Ameren has become more sophisticated in dealing with virus threats, and in the past year installed a gateway-based software package to combat the problem. That software, from Trend Mirco, an anti-virus and content protection software company, has "virtually eliminated e-mail borne viruses," Knott says.

While Ameren has solved, at least for the moment, problems with e-mail borne viruses and worms, Knott says "the real issue on our e-mail system now tends to be spam." Currently, he is trying to assess just how big a problem spam is for Ameren, and in particular whether it's underreported within the company.

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