Sophos, a world leader in protecting businesses against spam and
viruses, has published a report revealing the top ten viruses and
hoaxes causing problems for businesses around the world during the
month of November.
The report, compiled from Sophos's global network of monitoring
stations, shows that two new major viruses - Sober-I and Bagle-AU -
appeared during the month, though the prevalent Netsky-P and
Zafi-B, which were first spotted in March 2004 and June 2004
respectively, continue to be major irritants.
The top ten viruses in November 2004 were as follows:
"Two new entrants made it into the chart last month - Sober-I
and Bagle-AU. Sober-I's impact was particularly significant; it
reached number two in the chart, accounting for over 20% of
reports, even though it was not discovered until 19 November," said
Carole Theriault,
security consultant at Sophos. "Sober-I spreads by email and uses a
variety of subject lines and message texts, many of which allude to
important security or messaging information. This type of ruse
often outwits users, who double-click on the attachment to learn
about the problem. Instead of discovering more about the bogus
issue, unprotected users are infecting their computers."
"Despite the appearance of Sober-I on the scene, relative old
timers Netsky-P and Zafi-B have continued spreading, even though
protection against them was made available as soon as they were
first detected. Users can thwart these established threats by
simply keeping their anti-virus protection up-to-date," continued
Theriault.
Sophos analysed and protected against 1,379 new viruses in
November. The total number of viruses Sophos now protects against
is 97,535. Sophos research shows that over 5.6%, or one in 18
emails, circulating during the month of November were viral. This
is an increase from last month's figure, which was 4.6%.
The top ten hoaxes reported to Sophos during November are as
follows:
"The Yahoo instant message hoax - a new entry this month - has
been spreading both via email and instant messaging services. The
hoax warns instant messaging users to be wary of another named
instant messaging user who it claims is spreading a virus,"
continued Theriault. "Hoaxes warning of dangerous viruses are
common, but as ever, this one has no basis in truth. Subscribing to
virus alerts from reputable firms is the most reliable way to keep
up to date with the latest virus threats."
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 above top ten virus 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.