This is the latest in a series of monthly charts counting down
the ten most frequently occurring viruses as compiled by Sophos, a
world leader in corporate anti-virus protection.
For January 2001, the chart is as follows, with the most
frequently occurring virus at number one:
"The first top ten of the new year is dominated by relatively
new viruses," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at
Sophos Anti-Virus. "Users cannot afford to be lax in updating their
anti-virus software, even following the Christmas period. It would
be dangerous for companies to let the holiday hangover put holes in
their IT hard hats."
The major events in January included Ramen, an in-the-wild worm
which attacks Linux servers, and Melissa-X which appeared in the
Word 2001 file format for the first time.
1384 new viruses were discovered and protected against by Sophos
during January 2001.
The total number of viruses Sophos detects and protects against
is 60,151.
More information about W32/Navidad-B.
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.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.