Love Bug beaten to number one spot by Kakworm in Sophos
Anti-Virus top ten of the year so far
A report published by Sophos Anti-Virus, the world's leading
developer of corporate virus protection, reveals that the viruses
with the most attention are not necessarily the most common.
Love Bug, which
made front-page news across the world in May 2000, was beaten to
the number one spot in Sophos's annual top ten chart by Kakworm.
Kakworm topped Sophos's virus top ten for the year accounting
for 17% of all calls made to Sophos's help desk. The virus, which
first appeared in January 2000, has never dropped out of the top
three most common viruses in Sophos's monthly top tens. Microsoft issued a
security patch against the exploit used by Kakworm in 1999, yet,
despite repeated warnings from anti-virus firms, many users have
not downloaded it.
"Love Bug was a shooting star - lots of action and noise and
fury for a relatively short time." said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant at Sophos Anti-Virus. "Meanwhile, Kakworm has
crept stealthily to the top of the charts."
The annual top ten also reveals that only 6% of the viruses
circulating in the wild are script viruses, yet these account for
over one third of all infections.
One latecomer stormed into the top ten for the year. Navidad
started to spread at the beginning of November yet managed to enter
the chart at number 7 in just a few weeks. The virus masquerades as
a Christmas card, playing on the seasonal lapse in caution.
Other developments in 2000 included:
- There was a great deal of panic surrounding the possibility of
viruses for mobile platforms. Some anti-virus companies released
versions of their software for the Palm and for WAP Gateways
despite the fact that there are no viruses in the wild for the Palm
and mobile phones are not currently vulnerable to viruses.
- Hackers used the Qaz Trojan horse to break
into Microsoft's computer systems, gaining access to product source
code. A clear message was sent around the world, warning that your
company's IT security can be weakened by complacent or ill-informed
users.
- 2000 was also a year of hype with some anti-virus firms
learning that press coverage could be gained by releasing warnings
about non-threatening viruses.
- It was a year of hit and miss for the prosecution of virus
writers. David L. Smith, who pleaded guilty to writing the Melissa
virus, awaited sentence throughout 2000 with no resolution
forthcoming and the Love Bug author walked away scot-free as the
Philippines had no computer crime laws. More positively, the author
of the devastating Chernobyl virus was arrested in Taiwan.
Top Ten 2000 figures in full:
Graphics of the above Top Ten chart are available here.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.