As compiled by Sophos Anti-Virus
This is the latest in a series of monthly charts counting down
the ten most frequently occurring viruses as compiled by Sophos,
worldwide leaders in anti-virus protection.
For October 2000, the chart is as follows, with the most
frequently occurring virus at number one:
"The most commonly encountered virus in October features a
cunning trick," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at
Sophos Anti-Virus. "The W32/Apology virus stops infected users from
reaching the websites of many anti-virus vendors, thus preventing
them from downloading protection."
October witnessed one of the most high profile hacks ever when
Microsoft revealed that its corporate computer network had been
penetrated. The hackers are believed to have used the Qaz worm,
which features at number 4 in this month's top ten.
Meanwhile in the Philippines the 19-year-old suspected author of
the Erap Estrada worm was arrested. Floppy disks and other computer
equipment taken from his home are being examined by the
authorities.
More information
about W32/Apology-B.
More information
about Qaz.
Compiled by Sophos's technical support team, the top ten chart
is collated from calls to Sophos's 24 hour, 365 days a year
technical support line.
Graphics of the above Top Ten chart are available here.
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.