Golden oldies Klez and JDBGMGR enter the record books
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 global leader in anti-virus protection for
businesses.
For February 2003, the virus chart is as follows, with the most
frequently occurring virus at number one:
"The new Lovgate worm may have
been the most talked about virus in February, but it certainly
wasn't the most prolific, reaching only number nine in the chart. A
worm with altogether more substance is this month's number one -
Klez-H. Klez, in
its various guises, has now been hanging around the chart for
thirteen months, making it the most persistent worm ever," said
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant, Sophos Anti-Virus.
"People infected by Klez couldn't have updated their protection in
yonks. Considering that it's now possible to automatically update
your anti-virus software every hour, there really are no
excuses."
Sophos detected 541 new viruses, worms and Trojan horses in
February. The total number it now protects against is 80,079.
The top ten hoaxes reported to Sophos during February 2003 are
as follows:
"Never mind crop circles, spaghetti growing on trees, or the
supposed clues on the Abbey Road album cover that Beatle Paul
McCartney had died and been replaced by an imposter, it's JDBGMGR that's fast
becoming the hoax of all time," continued Cluley. "JDBGMGR is right
up there with Klez when it comes to creating computer user
confusion, but this needn't be the case. People receiving this
message should simply delete it and not be tempted to forward it to
all their contacts 'just in case' it is a real virus warning."
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.