Sober-C reclaims top spot
Sophos, a world leader in protecting businesses against spam and
viruses, has revealed the top ten viruses and hoaxes causing
problems for businesses around the world.
The report, which examines virus and hoax reports in the month
of February 2004, shows MyDoom-A slip off the top spot, to allow
for Sober-C's return to the number one position.
The top ten viruses in February 2004 were as follows:
"Sober-C, which first topped the chart in December, returned to
the top slot again this month ahead of the high profile worms
MyDoom-A, Netsky-B and Bagle-B," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant at Sophos. "Sober-C travels via email and
peer-to-peer networks and is continuing to spread widely.
Protection against this worm has been available for months - those
falling victim should consider automating their anti-virus updates
in order to beef up their defences."
"My-Doom-A, which created a possessed zombie army, knocking
SCO's website off the internet, took second place and might have
hit the top of the chart this month had it not expired on 12th
February," continued Cluley. "Its variant MyDoom-B attempted a
similar onslaught on Microsoft's website, however this worm caused
few infections and didn't even make Sophos's top ten. This month
also saw the fight against computer crime stepped up, with
Microsoft offering USD 250,000 to catch the author of Mydoom-B and
the arrest of female virus writer Gigabyte in Belgium."
Sophos analysed and protected against 869 new viruses in
February. The total number of viruses Sophos now protects against
is 88,288.
The top ten hoaxes reported to Sophos during February are as
follows:
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.