The Southern-California Word Legal Users Group ®

A Forum for Information Exchange

APRIL MEETING

FEATURED TOPIC: WORD MACRO VIRUSES

·Risk Assessment  ·Determining if a Virus is Present

·Containment During Working Hours  ·Assessing Damage  ·Policy Development

The February ‘99 issue of PC World Magazine states that 80% of all current viruses are Macro Viruses, those that are programmed and transmitted via Word documents.   As more firms migrate to Microsoft Word, working with thousands of Word documents daily, it is understandable that viruses are becoming a major issue for them.  The now infamous Melissa virus (and spawn Papa), are just two examples of macro viruses impacting firms over the past several months. 

Virus protection software, which is only effective on previously identified viruses, is just one aspect of dealing with this problem.  Firms need to be able to effectively address issues such as determining if a virus is present, assessing the damage, developing a plan for immediate containment during working hours, and notifying clients.

The following presenters addressed these issues in depth at the April Word Legal Users Group meeting.  Michael Schwartz, Staff Consultant, Technology Risk Services for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP – Mr. Schwartz joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1998.  His emphasis is in the collection and review of security data as it relates to enterprise-wide security.  Also presenting information, was Mr. Alex Agudelo, a Regional Network Specialist for the Microsoft Corporation. 

MEETING DETAILS:

Date:  Friday, April 30, 1999

Location:  Offices of Foley & Lardner
2029 Century Park East, Century City