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Sophos Reveals Top Ten Viruses And Hoaxes
SecurityProNews
Staff Writer
2004-09-01
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New virus numbers hit 33-month high, but old timers dominate reports.
Sophos has published a report revealing the top ten viruses and hoaxes causing problems for businesses around the world.
The report, compiled from Sophos's global network of security research labs, reveals that all of the top ten most frequently encountered viruses have been around for months. The Zafi-B worm tops the chart this month and has held the number one spot in the chart for the last three months.
The top ten viruses in August 2004, and the month they were first seen, were as follows:
1. W32/Zafi-B 47.4% June 04
2. W32/Netsky-P 18.0% March 04
3. W32/MyDoom-O 7.2% July 04
4. W32/Netsky-D 4.8% March 04
5. W32/Netsky-Z 3.9% April 04
6. W32/Bagle-AA 3.3% April 04
7. W32/Netsky-B 2.9% February 04
8. W32/Lovgate-V 1.9% April 04
9. W32/Netsky-Q 1.5% March 04
10. W32/Netsky-C 1.4% February 04
Others 7.7%
"Despite the high volume of new viruses that were detected in August, not one made it into the August top ten list," said Gregg Mastoras, senior security analyst at Sophos, Inc. "The viruses that are on the list this month have been hanging around for several months."
In the month of August, Sophos analyzed and protected against 1,230 new viruses. August had the highest number of new viruses seen in one single month since December 2001. The total number of viruses Sophos now protects against is 93,875. Sophos figures show that over 9.3% of emails circulating during the month of August were viral.
"Sophos has offered protection against the Zafi-B worm for months now but our reports indicate that this email-aware worm has not entirely lost momentum," continued Mastoras. "Zafi-B may have fallen by ten percent compared to last month but it's still on the radar screen and is quite capable of causing problems for those who are unprotected."
The top ten hoaxes reported to Sophos during August are as follows:
1. Hotmail hoax 20.1%
2. Meninas da Playboy 9.7%
3. WTC Survivor 8.1%
4. Bonsai kitten 5.3%
5. Bogus US Bank email 3.5% NEW ENTRY
6. Budweiser frogs screensaver 3.4%
7. A virtual card for you 3.1%
8. Spunkball 2.9%
9. Bill Gates fortune 2.6%
10. T-Virus 1.9% NEW ENTRY
Others 39.4%
"Two new hoaxes made their way into the hoax top ten this month," continued Mastoras. "The phishing scam, 'Bogus US bank email' tried to re- route unsuspected computer users to a Korean website in an attempt to steal bank account information, while the 'T-Virus' hoax had some mobile phone users in a tizzy when they received a text message advising that they've been infected by a virus. It was nothing but a poorly devised marketing ploy in an effort to promote 'Resident Evil', a new video game," continued Mastoras.
Sophos has made available a free, constantly updated information feed for intranets and websites, which means users can always find out about the latest viruses and hoaxes.
About the Author:
SecurityProNews is a daily online and email publication focusing on internet security issues.
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