The survey, conducted online between April 15 and May 25 by the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center and the Ministry of Public Security, said only 27 percent of computers were free from virus attacks. About 59 percent of affected computers were attacked more than three times.

About 14 percent of the computers lost all data stored on their disks, while 29 percent had only partial losses.

"Viruses pose a serious computer security problem for the country," said Zhang Jian, director of the center’s testing division. "It's a warning signal that users' lack of awareness may cause further harm."

More than 6,000 users participated in the 40-day online survey. The center, together with major anti-virus software companies, received dozens of virus samples and over 5,000 calls from users asking for help in fixing crashed computers.

The main sources of computer viruses are pirated compact disks and software disks, the report said. About 27 percent of computers were affected while users were downloading files from the Internet. Another 14 percent of computers were affected during file swapping on Intranets.

CIH was the most prevalent virus, followed by Funlove, Binghe, MTX and w97m.maker.

The report said Trojans, which are able to gain users' private information such as passwords and control infected computers remotely, are one of the most serious threats to network security.

Major cities such as Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing reported 75 percent of computers were affected by viruses.

China's Net users increased by 4 million from January to June, reaching a total of 26.5 million, according to the latest report released by the China Internet Network Information Center.

(Beijingnew.com 07/27/2001)