Klez charts for 15th consecutive month, dirty dialer creeps
into top ten.
For April 2003, the virus chart is as follows, with the most
frequently occurring virus at number one:
"While Klez refuses to go away, a new entry this month is
Datemake - a type of malware known as a dialer.
It is programmed to dial a premium rate telephone line,
typically with the intent of gaining access to adult material,"
said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos
Anti-Virus. "Businesses should apply strict computing guidelines to
prevent getting stung by a huge telephone bill and embarrassed by
these seedy programs."
Sophos detected 475 new viruses, worms and Trojan horses in
April. The total number it now protects against is 81,437.
The top ten hoaxes reported to Sophos during April 2003 are as
follows:
"The WTC Survivor hoax continues to fool many computer users.
Indeed a newspaper in the United Arab Emirates has recently warned
readers to be ready for imminent attack," said Cluley.
"People who receive this hoax shouldn't believe everything they
read. Instead of forwarding the warnings to everyone they know,
they should ask their network managers for advice."
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.