Security firm Symantec (NSDQ: SYMC) notes that the Downadup worm has swept through China, Argentina, Taiwan, Brazil, India, Chile, and Russia. The infection doesn’t even register in the United States. Why?

As Symantec pointed out in this blog post, the geographic areas with the highest infection rates correlate with the regions that also have the highest piracy rates. Stolen copies of Windows don’t get all of the updates, and those with stolen copies are much more likely to turn off their automatic updates. This seems to be a clean explanation as to why the worm — which infects systems through a vulnerability Microsoft patched in October — hasn’t made a dent in North America, and has ravaged areas known for high levels of piracy.

This shows how simple common sense goes a long way from getting infected: patch, use anti-virus software, and don’t use dopey dictionary-based passwords. The mega-paranoid among us may want to disable auto-play, as (mostly through USB drives) the worm can spread that way.

Speaking of piracy, criminals are once again giving it to the users of peer-to-peer networks (which have never been the best way to get your software). These networks are often littered with malware. And it seems malware writers are now riding the wave of publicity surrounding Apple’s new iWork ’09 productivity software. They’re circulated a Trojan named iWorkServices within a fake iWork ’09 trial installer. If you’d like to try iWork ’09, get your copy from Apple’s Web site.

The moral? Buy your software, patch, and download trials from legitimate web sites.

On Sunday night, January the 18th, at 2:00 AM EDT (GMT-5), Network Logix will be performing scheduled maintenance to upgrade our core backbone equipment.  This upgrade will affect connectivity to your Hosted Exchange and Spam Filtering services.

During this upgrade you may NOT be able to connect to your Hosted Exchange, Spam Filtering, and Outbound messaging services.  The approximate maintenance window will be one hour.  All services should be back online and functioning properly by 3:00 AM EDT.

This capacity upgrade is due to our continuing growth and is necessary to maintain the reliability and performance you have come to expect from Network Logix Services.

Please feel free to contact us anytime with any questions or concerns by calling us at 614.503.7139 option 2 or by emailing support@networklogix.com .  As always, we appreciate your patience as we move forward.

– Network Logix Operations Team

For the many iPhone users, myself included, our blog has a new user-friendly interface for the iPhone.  Enjoy!

Microsoft said Thursday it is kicking off 2009 with a single Windows security update for its Patch Tuesday security bulletin release, repairing a critical error that could allow hackers to launch malicious attacks on users’ computers.

The solitary error, which Microsoft is scheduled to fix on Tuesday, was given the maximum severity rating of “critical,” generally indicating that the vulnerability allows attackers to execute malicious code remotely in order to enter users’ computers and steal information.

Microsoft did not specify which holes will be plugged in its Windows operating systems, or how many errors the patch will fix. However, the company indicated that the patch affected numerous versions of Windows, including 2000, XP, Vista, Server 2003 and Server 2008.

Thank you for making 2008 a great year for Network Logix! I wanted to let you know about some of the things you can expect from us in 2009. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Think of it as our top New Year’s Resolutions, except unlike my resolution to fly to the moon, we’ll actually get these done!

1.  Improve customer satisfaction
(Our goal is to create raving fans of our service!)

2.  Expedite our service delivery process
(We want to make our service the easiest possible service to use, while also being the most efficient one for your time.)

3.  Sharing and collaboration
(We want you to be the first to know about maintenance schedules and security threats as well as new technology on the horizon, and how to make the most of your current technology purchases)

Starting today, we have added new support teams already trained in everything we do across all platforms. This means better support for our services, ability to launch the services and extend more commercial support for upcoming announcements. (stay tuned)

You read that right. In this down economy we have invested in our future and doubled our support staff to keep you ahead of the curve. I hope this makes up for the recent support issues some have experienced.

In order to reach our vision for 2009, we need your assistance.  Going forward we ask that the following recommendations be followed when requesting technical support.  We have provided three (3) options:

1.  Email (support@networklogix.com):

Based upon user feedback and tracking statistics from the last 14 months, we have found that 82.6% of users prefer this method of requesting support.  Email requests sent to this address will now automatically be entered in our Service Delivery software which will escalate the request to the appropriate Network Engineer.  This will facilitate a faster response time for our partners.

Please use (support@networklogix.com) for ALL requests, including ones related to your company websites.  Do not send requests to my personal email account as this will only delay your request.

2.  Online Customer Portal (http://support.networklogix.com):

We have launched a revised customer portal which allows users to log tickets directly into our Service Delivery software. Users, based upon their access level, can view all service requests for all users inside their company.  We will be providing user training on the features and benefits of the Customer Portal in the near future.

3. Phone (614.503.7139 option2):

As this method has proven to be the least preferred (16.2%), we ask that this method only be used for requesting support when email or Internet are not available. Please do not use the 866# used previously.

During 2009 we will also be enhancing our communications with you.  Network Logix Operations blog (http://blog.networklogix.com) is written by our staff to communicate with you, our partner, on the latest developments and events in our business and get feedback on how we’re working for you.

This is our mission, this is our promise: As we grow, we will improve our service and deliver more value. Thank you for making this possible and for your continued business.

Dear Friends, Clients, Partners, welcome to the New Year!

Thank you for a fantastic 2008. Not only have we seen our service deployments and contracts grow at a tremendous rate, but we have also undertaken a record expansion in our Global Network Services platform.  Our flagship product, ProCare Managed Office™, grew from a pure break/fix service to one that now plays a key part in the business continuity of our clients.

We look forward to an incredible 2009. With key hires, and a service delivery platform built for speed and value, we believe that our solutions will be a great answer to what may be a tough economic cycle.

We will be introducing several new products in 2009.

We will also be making some interesting changes to the support of the existing offerings.

Welcome again to the New Year and best wishes for 2009!