04 Dec 2003
Sophos reveals the hottest email hoaxes of the year
Sophos, a world leader in protecting businesses against viruses
and spam, has revealed the top ten email hoaxes for 2003. The
JDBGMGR virus hoax is
the most commonly reported hoax for the second year running.
The top ten hoaxes reported to Sophos during 2003 are as
follows:
| Position |
Hoax |
Percentage of reports |
| 1 | JDBGMGR |
|
| 2 | Hotmail hoax |
|
| 3 | WTC Survivor |
|
| 4 | Meninas da Playboy |
|
| 5 | Bonsai kitten |
|
| 6 | Budweiser frogs screensaver |
|
| 7 | Bill Gates fortune |
|
| 8 | A virtual card for you |
|
| 9 | Frog in a blender/Fish in a bowl |
|
| 10 | Applebees Gift Certificate |
|
| Others | 23.1% |
The JDBGMGR virus hoax purports to be a warning message telling
readers to avoid infection by deleting a file called JDBGMGR.EXE
from their hard drives. In fact, this file is a legitimate system
file installed with versions of Internet Explorer.
Sophos continues to receive many support queries from users
troubled by virus hoaxes and email chain letters, and recommends
users always check an anti-virus vendor's website when they receive
a possible hoax email. The Sophos website's hoax information section is one of the
most highly respected sources for reliable information on new
hoaxes.
"Hoaxes and chain letters are a nuisance for all email users,"
said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "The
hoaxes often claim the impossible, but some recipients may believe
the message to be legitimate and take drastic action such as
shutting down their network."
To keep informed about the most prevalent hoaxes and viruses,
you can add a free Sophos information feed to your own website or
intranet.
About Sophos
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 complete security solutions that are simple to deploy, manage, and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, mobile and network security solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.