Gibe-F and Dumaru-A threaten to strain relationship between PC
users and Microsoft
This is the latest in a series of monthly charts counting down
the ten most frequently reported viruses and hoaxes as compiled by
Sophos, a global leader in anti-virus and anti-spam protection for
business.
For October 2003, the chart is as follows, with the most
frequently occurring virus at number one:
"There's no change in the top three viruses this month," said
Carole Theriault, security consultant at Sophos. "With over 36% of
reports, Gibe-F and Dumaru-A - both of which pose as security
patches from Microsoft support - are threatening to destroy
computer users' trust in Microsoft. Deploying anti-virus at the
desktop level can stop all viruses dead in their tracks, regardless
of whether they come in by email, peer to peer or chat
systems."
"An interesting new entry this month comes in the form of
CoreFloo-C, a Trojan which allows a remote intruder to access and
control a computer via Internet Relay Chat (IRC). This is the first
time this year that a Trojan has made it into the top ten which is
dominated by Windows 32 viruses," continued Theriault.
Sophos currently protects against 85,357 viruses.
The top ten hoaxes reported to Sophos during October are as
follows:
"A new entry into October's chart is the 'Welcome to the Matrix'
hoax," said Theriault. "The hoax is in French and warns people not
to open powerpoint presentations entitled 'Welcome to the Matrix'.
Rather like the most common viruses this month, this hoax threatens
Microsoft's credibility with some versions claiming to come from a
Microsoft security team."
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.