``MyDoom'' Continues to Spread at Aggressive Rate -- Email Defense Leader MX Logic Determines One in Seven Messages is Infected.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 27, 2004

MX Logic, Inc., a provider of advanced email protection and security solutions including spam and virus filtering, determines one in seven messages are infected by the MyDoom worm and the company continues to block the infected messages on behalf of its more than 900 customers. Also called "Novarg" or "WORM_MIMAIL.R," the proliferation rate of MyDoom has now surpassed that of the recent mass mailing worm SoBig.F -- where, at its peak, MX Logic identified that one in twelve messages were infected.

"MyDoom is very aggressive," said Scott Chasin, chief technology officer, MX Logic. "Part of the reason it spreads so quickly is because it masks itself as an error message so that even the most sophisticated user can be fooled. The worm installs a back-door on the machine -- placing the computer under the control of the worm author. To ensure cost containment and business continuity through this attack, organizations must immediately leverage maximum, up-to-the minute worm protection that stops malicious mail before it reaches the network."

The MyDoom worm arrives in an email as a .zip file attachment, which enables it to bypass traditional gateway filters, and is typically named, for example, "document.zip," "message.zip," or "readme.zip." It can have various extensions, including ".exe," ".pif," ".command," or ".scr" attachment. Many times, the email will appear to be an error report stating that the message body can't be displayed and has instead been attached in a file.

When the included attachment is opened, the computer immediately plants a "backdoor" program that lets the worm author send commands to the infected machine, possibly instructing the worm to distribute spam or enable IP spoofing capabilities. MyDoom propagates by harvesting victim email addresses from ten different file types. Additionally, the worm is set to initiate a denial-of-service attack against the domain sco.com Feb. 1, 2004, through Feb. 12, 2004.

MX Logic's Email Defense Service provides around-the-clock email protection, automatically intercepting, analyzing and blocking malicious viruses and worms at the network perimeter -- before messages can enter or leave the internal corporate network. In addition to unsolicited content blocking, MX Logic provides double-protection virus defense powered by premier virus-scanning engines that are updated in near-real time.

Powering MX Logic's Email Defense Service is MX Logic's Threat Center, a sophisticated streaming data environment where MX Logic monitors the global state of email communication, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and provides MX Logic's customers with real-time updates and protection. Led by email security experts with extensive experience in protecting messaging networks, the Threat Center provides dynamic email defense -- staying far ahead of the next attack by continually incorporating information about the very latest spammer, virus and worm tactics.

About MX Logic

MX Logic, Inc., provides advanced email protection and security solutions that safeguard enterprises, service providers and government organizations from junk email ("spam"), viruses, worms, malicious content and attachments, and other harmful threats at the network perimeter. MX Logic's Email Defense solutions allow organizations to easily configure and control their email protection and security based on their overall corporate email policies. MX Logic's Stacked Classification Framework(SM), its patent-pending, multi-layered spam detection system that aggregates the five most effective spam filters and techniques in the industry, enables highly effective spam sensitivity and an industry-leading low false positive rate (legitimate email marked as spam). Developed by MX Logic technologists who built and managed some of the world's largest messaging networks, MX Logic's around-the-clock services reduce costs and enable IT personnel to focus on their strategic business initiatives instead of spam and email threat management. MX Logic, headquartered in Denver, is processing millions of messages per day on behalf of its more than 900 customers. For more information, visit www.mxlogic.com.