Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/1999/07/08/giz_a_job_giz/

Giz a job, giz a virus

Email CVs give companies the virtual clap

By Tim Richardson

Posted in On-Prem, 8th July 1999 09:33 GMT

The majority of computer viruses -- the digital equivalent of the clap -- are transmitted by people applying for jobs. That's the conclusion of a piece of research by Star Internet which claims that a growing number of corporate computer virus infections are caused by home users submitting their CVs via email. Despite recent lessons from Melissa and Explore.Zip, Star has found that a large number of organisations have not installed any form of anti-virus protection. And a surprisingly large number of the infected emails were sent by job hunters from anonymous Web-based email accounts such as Hotmail. "The increasing problem with viruses attacking corporate networks is due to a number of factors, but mostly the rapid growth in home Internet usage brought about by free Internet services," said Jos White, marketing director at Star. "New home users are encouraged to download files, but then often send these to their work addresses, or friends in the office. Viruses can also be hidden within other seemingly innocent documents, such as job applications. The responsibility lies with companies to ensure foolproof protection, as home users don’t have any real reason to worry about it," he said. With this in mind, The Register has gone on extra special alert just in case it gets bombarded with CVs from unknown sources. You know who you are. ®