Updated 25 February with latest available
statistics.
Experts at SophosLabs™, Sophos's global network of virus and
spam analysis centres, have warned users that the W32/Sober-K worm is
spreading widely. The worm, which can masquerade as x-rated videos
of the society heiress Paris Hilton, is currently the second most
commonly encountered virus, amounting to over 22% of all viruses
reported to Sophos's global network of monitoring stations in the
last 24 hours.
The W32/Sober-K worm bulk mails itself using a variety of
different subject lines including "Paris Hilton, pure!" and "Paris
Hilton SexVideos". It can send itself in either German or English
language, depending on whether it believes the recipient's email
address to be owned by a German or English speaker.
"This latest variant of the Sober worm may catch out the unwary
as they open their email inbox," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant at Sophos. "Although much-publicised virus
outbreaks in the past should have made users more nervous of
double-clicking on unsolicited email attachments, some still find
it hard to resist. All users should be reminded to follow safe
computing guidelines, and PCs should be kept automatically updated
with the latest anti-virus protection."
The Sober-K worm has been the second most commonly sighted email
virus in the last 24 hours, accounting for 22.87% of all reports.
The W32/Zafi-D virus
which emerged in December is presently the most prevalent virus
with 25.74% of all reports in the last 24 hours.
Sophos recommends companies protect their email with a consolidated solution to thwart the virus and spam
threats as well as secure their desktop and servers with
automatically updated anti-virus protection.
Sophos offers the following advice:
- Update your anti-virus software regularly so you can identify
new worms and viruses effectively and accurately. Ideally you
should be using automatic updates to ensure you are always defended
by the very latest virus protection.
- Emails which sound too strange to be true, or sound too good to
be true, probably aren't true. You don't need to be cynical or
paranoid to exercise caution!
- If you have peer-to-peer file sharing programs installed on
your company's network, consider removing them. It is almost
impossible to make a business case for unregulated file sharing
across the internet, on account of the associated dangers.
- Doing nothing about viruses and worms is not an option. Once
infected by a worm like Sober-K, your computer will try to send the
worm to as many other potential victims as it can. Even if you
don't care about your computer, be considerate of the effect that
your carelessness might have on other internet users.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.