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But in addition to battening down the hatches to shut out viruses, maybe, just maybe, IT managers should focus on controlling spam. Unsolicited and misleading e-mail can wreak havoc among users and helpdesks.

Other users in our organization received e-mail messages, ostensibly from antivirus servers, telling them they had sent viruses. Although these messages didn't carry viruses, just bad information, they made it through the gateway and caused more helpdesk calls.

Obviously, many helpdesks were busy the week Klez hit, but some were less busy than others. Organizations that subscribe to spam blacklists such as MAPS (Mail Abuse Prevention System) rejected SMTP connections from dial-up PCs and open relays, and therefore didn't let Klez mail through. Naturally, pattern-matching of undesirable e-mail characteristics also helped -- not allowing "iframe" tags in HTML attachments through the gateway, for example. Our organization's spam-rejection stats skyrocketed during Klez week, even during normally quiet periods, hitting 1,600 percent above normal one morning at around 1 a.m.

Did your spam block logs also spike? Share your Klez war stories with me.