Virus writing is beginning to feel the long arm of the law in SA, in line with international trends as the first case of its kind was heard in the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court last month. The case involves the ex-employee of a major local retailer appearing in court for allegedly introducing a virus into the company’s computer system, resulting in losses for the company amounting to about R5 million. The virus first appeared in May 1999 in the company’s mainframe computers and it was alleged that the employee released the virus after suffering a cut in salary due to certain IT functions at the company being outsourced. “Cases such as this are sending a very clear message to the IT community in this country that it is not acceptable to cause malicious damage to the property of others and that the offence is punishable by the law,” comments Matt Newnham, eScan product manager for local software distributor Camsoft Solutions. Full Story