An Internet security firm is downplaying fears that a new internet worm could cripple computer systems across Europe.
The mass mailer worm, Evaman, struck panic into Australia's business community over the weekend after newspaper reports compared the viruses' potential havoc to the MyDoom experience.
Yesterday the Sydney Morning Heraldnewspaper warned businesses of a 'Doomsday II' scenario after technical director for computer security firm, Symantec, described the worm "as every bit as bad as MyDoom."
However, a spokeswoman for the company in London, told ireland.comthat the virus was not expected to rapidly infect European and UK systems and ranked the worm as a low-grade threat.
She said: "We are tracking reports of Evaman but at the moment we regard it as a level 2 threat, which isn't very serious."
She advised computer users to not open suspicious emails and said regularly downloading anti-viral updates was the "best way to combat new outbreaks".