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Don’t Open any Email with Love in the Title this Valentine’s Day Cautions SingleHop, Inc.

Chicago, IL, February 12th, 2007: Chicago-based managed dedicated server provider SingleHop, Inc. warns to be especially wary of any emails with Valentine’s Day themed subject lines: the new Nurech.A worm has been recently been discovered in emails with headlines like “Together You and I.” Virus writers are historically in love with holidays for themed spamming because recipients are accustomed to opening e-cards and attachments they might typically avoid during.

“One of the first major Internet viruses was the notorious I Love You virus which was released in 2000. In 2003 we were treated to the W32.Yaha.K@mm known as the Valentine’s Day virus. After the recent Storm Virus attack we would advise just skipping opening romantic letters unless they are clearly from someone you know who puts information in the subject line that you would expect,” says Zak Boca, CEO of SingleHop. According to SingleHop, 95% of the mail received and filtered is spam, with an increase around all holidays.

The increase in holiday spam is a result of increased consumer spending conducted online. The new virus is a variant of the Storm virus which was discovered in January, 2007 and has already infected millions of computers worldwide.

Most of the recent viruses are Trojans, which burrow into a computer and activate over time, sending spam, typically solicitations to buy things, to all the names in your computer or drawing from outside lists. This can result in your IP address being blocked, essentially prohibiting you from sending email.

“There are several ways to combat this spam issue which have varying degrees of effectiveness. Most people use anti-virus software, spyware eliminators and a firewall. As most IT people will tell you, but most software salespeople won’t, these solutions only filter our 60% of viruses at best. Additionally, with new variants of Trojans being written and released just as virus protection is catching up to the old ones it’s literally a matter of the tail wagging the dog. We use the Barracuda Spam Firewall, which currently blocks approximately 95% of the mail passing through our systems, which greatly reduces your risk of even having a virus or Trojan land in your box,” says Boca.

About SingleHop, Inc.
SingleHop is the industry’s first fully transparent managed dedicated server ISP. Located in Chicago, IL, SingleHop was formed to deliver low cost managed IT services for the small to medium enterprises from a central Midwest hub location. The company has capacity for over 2000 servers in one datacenter, with a network powered entirely by Cisco. www.singlehop.com