Tax error blamed on virus

A US man cleared of tax evasion earlier this week had blamed inaccurate figures on an infected computer system. Eugene Pitts was found not guilty of tax evasion and filing fraudulent personal and corporate tax returns at Montgomery County Circuit Court. According to US newspapers, Pitts had testified that a computer virus caused him to use incorrect figures in calculating his income. He said the virus wasn't detected until state revenue investigators had alerted him about problems with both his personal and company returns. "Without knowing the name of the virus which infected Mr Pitts' computer, it is difficult to describe how it might have affected his tax returns and not those of his clients. It is certainly curious that only his records were targeted by the virus," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos Anti-Virus. "However, there is one thing he is clearly guilty of - not following safe computing guidelines to keep his computer virus-free. There can be no excuse for any professional not to defend his customers' and his own data against this kind of virus damage," added Cluley.