[Esa-l] Normally, The Register's articles are hyperbolic, but I believe this one

[Brett Glass]

Rise in viruses within emails outpacing growth of email

By: John Leyden

Posted: 04/04/2001 at 14:39 GMT The rise in computer viruses within 
Internet messages is outpacing the growth of email.

That's the alarming conclusion of a survey by anti virus specialists 
MessageLabs, a firm which scans its customer's email for malicious code. 
It predicts the increase in virus-laden emails will be felt most acutely 
within government.

MessageLabs forecasts that virus' arriving at local and central government 
offices by email will rise by 222 per cent this year compared to only a 62 
per cent rise in email use. The manufacturing industry and media sector 
also fared badly in the study, which is based on spotting trends from a 
sample of 50 million emails sent to a cross-section of MessageLabs 
customers in the first two months of this year.

The increasing prominence of email, coupled with the availability of virus 
tool kits that allow vandals to construct Internet worms, is blamed for 
fuelling the increase.....

Full text at

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/8/18099.html