This is the latest in a series of monthly charts counting down
the ten most frequently occurring viruses and hoaxes as compiled by
Sophos, a world leader in corporate anti-virus protection.
For November 2002, the chart is as follows, with the most
frequently occurring virus at number one:
"Bugbear
dominates the chart for the second month as it continues to out-fox
users with its dual mode of attack - this worm can spread via email
and network shares," said Graham Cluley, senior technology
consultant, Sophos Anti-Virus. "It's important that all users
ensure they are protected against Bugbear because it implants code
that can log victims' keystrokes. This means hackers have a perfect
view of everything you type - this could include passwords, bank
account details and credit card numbers."
Also making a big impact this month was the new Braid worm. This is an
email aware worm with an attachment. However, if the recipient's
system is left unpatched against a Microsoft vulnerability, the
virus can run automatically, as soon as the offending email is
opened. Alongside keeping anti-virus protection up to date, Sophos
reminds users to patch against all known vulnerabilities and be
suspicious of all unsolicited emails.
The FunLove worm
and Spaces virus
make chart comebacks even though protection against these threats
was issued back in 1999.
Sophos detected 817 new viruses, worms and Trojan horses in
November, the total number it now protects against is 78,381.
The top ten hoaxes reported to Sophos during November 2002 are
as follows:
"All too often, users receiving email warnings of viruses
circulate them to all their contacts in the mistaken belief they
are doing good. In reality, these actions cause uncertainty, waste
bandwidth, clog up email servers and spread disinformation,"
continued Cluley. "Instead, businesses should instruct all
employees to send all such emails to a single, nominated person who
is responsible for checking out whether the threat is real or
fake."
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.
Graphics of the virus top ten chart are available here.
More information about safe computing,
including anti-hoax policies.
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.