September 23, 2003
SMS Virus Alert
Modifications to Symantec's DeepSight will give customers an early warning of computer viruses with the ability to track the outbreaks on the Internet. And as optional Alert Service which will send alerts via e-mail, fax, voice call or SMS, according to Infoworld.
Microsoft made headline news in August, when they sent out their first critical security alert via SMS after the Blaster worm hit Australia (cf SMS alerts IT managers of "Blaster" worm's attack).
Netsurf.ch sent out SMS Virus Alerts in English and in French as early as October 2000 (cf SMS Virus Alert and SMS Alerts Sent Out) but it was discontinued in December 2002 when RedMessage (a gateway to international mobile operators) went out of business. The sending of the SMS was a fix cost to netsurf of £ 70.- a month and in the course of those two years, we sent out 22 virus alerts by SMS (only alerts of viruses that were rated medium to high risk and affected personal computers) and had over 4'000 subscribers from all over the world. We tried to find another gateway to take over and sponsor the alerts - but to no avail. Hard to believe...
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