Direct marketers squirmed along with the rest of the world yesterday as an Internet virus known as the I Love You bug, disrupted business. While some companies reeled, others told DIRECT Newsline they were unaffected because of quick thinking early in the day, or had previously protected their businesses.
Staples.com leapt to the rescue, e-mailing customers today that the office supply e-tailer offered anti-virus software that could be downloaded. The company is offering between $5 and $15 off on virus-protection software. “It’s a great way to provide a value-added service for them,” said Debby Hohler, spokesperson for Staples.com.
Dubbed the love bug, the virus arrived in e-mails that said, “ILOVEYOU” in the subject line. Once opened, the worm-virus reportedly made its way into the e-mail of all the addresses in the recipient’s address book, and deleted data on the hard drive. Those who use Microsoft Outlook e-mail are reportedly particularly vulnerable.
E-mail relationship management company ClickAction, Palo Alto, CA, was not affected, “because we’re still on a Unix system,” explained Geoff Smith. “Since our clients are sending out e-mails from our servers, they are protected.” But he added that he’d heard of were clients whose businesses were shut down because of the virus.
Opt-in e-mail network company NetCreations, New York, said it, too, was unaffected because outgoing e-mails are not sent from a Microsoft system, said Adrienne Press, spokesperson.
One of NetCreations’ clients decided to hold off on sending an e-mail campaign on Thursday “because they figured there wouldn’t be a good response rate,” Press said. Most clients, though, have “not been gun-shy about sending things out.”
Richard Baumer, president and CEO of Venture Direct Worldwide, New York, experienced what was probably a typical scenario. Arriving before his employees Thursday morning, he began to routinely open his e-mails, including the one that said, “ILOVEYOU.” Made aware of the problem, by the time his staff arrived, he’d sent around a warning message and had called in a team of information management experts to remove the virus and get the list company’s e-mail running again.
Like most companies, Venture is dependent on e-mail. “We’re a media-buying service,” pointed out Henry DiSciullo, vice president of list & insert services at Venture. “Take one of our principal communication tools down, that’s like taking away 50% of our business.”
List company, SK&A in Irvine, CA, benefited by a quick-thinking MIS director. Dan Ortlip heard on the news that the virus was spreading rapidly, so when he arrived at work, he quickly downloaded the latest virus protection software and sent an e-mail warning the list company’s employees not to open the virus worm message. “Not using Microsoft helps,” he said. “You can still get infected, but it can’t rebroadcast unless you’re using Outlook Express and Outlook.”
Press reports said that by mid-afternoon, the love bug had affected hundreds of thousands of computers and penetrated the Pentagon, the Central Intelligence Agency and Britain’s parliament.
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