A new e-mail virus called MyDoom or Novarg attacked computers at Metro State and around the world Monday afternoon, infecting computers, causing excess e-mail traffic and drastically slowing networks.

"This virus hit (not just Metro) prior to a fix being provided by the vendors that develop virus checking software, which is not uncommon," explained Yvonne Flood, director of Information Technology. "The update to the virus programs was received Monday night and applied immediately. Only those who received and opened the messages prior to the patch being applied were infected," she added. On Tuesday, technicians were dispatched to the desktops of those who have the virus. Anyone with the virus must call the Help Desk (303-556-8325) for assistance.

Users were advised to immediately delete any messages that contain attachments with the following subject lines: "HELLO," "HI," "Status," "Sent" and "Mail delivery failure."

As of Tuesday afternoon, the virus wasn't too widespread at Metro, although it was slowing down the network "This type of attack will always slow down the network as 100s to 1,000s of e-mails are being sent out to our users," Flood explained.

Elsewhere however, experts predicted the virus would have a significant impact. Associate Professor of Computer Science Steve Beaty, an expert in computer networks and firewalls, called it "quite virulent" and said it is reportedly infecting one in 12 e-mails, compared to the previous record of one in 17 for Sobig.f:.

Both Flood and Beaty emphasized the necessity to be cautious in opening e-mails or attachments. "It is critical that users never open e-mails or attachments they are not expecting, e-mails where the subject line or contents appear strange, or e-mail from someone they don't know or don't normally communicate with - delete anything suspicious immediately," Flood said.

"Do not trust your anti-virus software completely. Even if you update the virus signature file daily, there is always a lag between the discovery of a virus and your computer being protected by it," Beaty added.