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 August 2003, the chart is as follows, with the most
frequently occurring virus at number one:
"August 2003 will be remembered as one of the worst months in
the history of computer security. A series of different viruses
have bombarded computer systems around the globe, culminating in
the newest member of the Sobig family which swamped internet email
traffic and took the pole position in the chart. The top four
viruses are all new entries - any of which would have been number
one in a normal month," said Graham Cluley, senior technology
consultant at Sophos Anti-Virus. "The Sobig-F worm clogged up
inboxes and crippled networks with the sheer volume of email
traffic it produced. Users and companies should remain on guard and
put systems in place to protect against future attacks."
Sophos analysed and protected against 778 new viruses in August.
The total number it now protects against is 84,277.
The top ten hoaxes reported to Sophos during August 2003 are as
follows:
"Bill Gates seems to be a target for hoax writers and virus
writers alike. While the Blaster worm capitalised on a flaw in
Microsoft's software and attempted to knock one of their websites
off the internet, two hoaxes about Bill Gates are still
circulating." continued Cluley.
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.