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By Pia Heikkila, 19 September 2001 17:00

NEWS A leading virus expert has accused security companies of creating unnecessary panic around the spread of the Nimda worm. US virus guru Rob Rosenberger, founder of virus mailing list vmyths.com, said the vendors talked up the worm's threat without establishing if the worm is harmful. He said the security vendors are nothing but hype-mongers. He told silicon.com: "The anti-virus firms used typical terms like 'high-risk', 'fast-spreading', to describe the pending cyber-catastrophe. The fact is that anti-virus firms don't even fully agree on Nimda's capabilities. Experts need a little more time to analyse it." Rosenberger accused AV vendors of generating hysteria to boost their slumped stock prices. "Computer security stocks often rise in proportion to global hysteria," he said. However, Network Associates' product manager Jack Clark hit back. He said Rosenberger is quick to criticise the vendors because he is not dealing with customers directly and does not know the real extent of the threat. "There is a real threat out there and we have a duty to alert the public. Rosenberger is not in the frontline working with viruses, but an external observer," he said. The Nimda worm has spread quickly around the world since it was first detected on Monday. The worm is particularly virulent because it uses a number of methods to propogate - spreading via email as well across the internet through web servers. Patches are available from the usual sources.