Security news31 January 2001
Top ten viruses reported to Sophos in January 2001
This is the latest in a series of monthly charts counting down the ten most frequently occurring viruses as compiled by Sophos, a world leader in corporate anti-virus protection.
For January 2001, the chart is as follows, with the most frequently occurring virus at number one:
| Position | Last month |
Malware | Percentage of reports | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New | W32/Navidad-B |
| ||
| 2 | 1 | W32/Apology-B |
| ||
| 3 | 3 | W32/Hybris-B |
| ||
| 4 | 5 | VBS/Kakworm |
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| 5 | 2 | W32/Prolin |
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| 6 | 9= | W32/Hybris-C |
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| 7 | 8 | VBS/LoveLet-AS |
| ||
| 8= | Re-entry | Troj/Qaz |
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| 8= | New | W32/Hybris-D |
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| 10 | 9= | W32/Bymer-A |
| ||
| Others | 23.5% | ||||
"The first top ten of the new year is dominated by relatively new viruses," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos Anti-Virus. "Users cannot afford to be lax in updating their anti-virus software, even following the Christmas period. It would be dangerous for companies to let the holiday hangover put holes in their IT hard hats."
The major events in January included Ramen, an in-the-wild worm which attacks Linux servers, and Melissa-X which appeared in the Word 2001 file format for the first time.
1384 new viruses were discovered and protected against by Sophos during January 2001.
The total number of viruses Sophos detects and protects against is 60,151.
More information about W32/Navidad-B.
Compiled by Sophos's technical support team, the top ten chart is collated from calls to Sophos's 24 hour, 365 days a year technical support line.
Graphics of the above Top Ten chart are available here.
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About Sophos
Sophos enables enterprises all over the world to secure and control their IT infrastructure. Sophos's network access control, endpoint, web and email solutions simplify security to provide integrated defenses against malware, spyware, intrusions, unwanted applications, spam, policy abuse, data leakage and compliance drift. With over 20 years of experience, Sophos protects over 100 million users in nearly 150 countries with its reliably engineered security solutions and services. Recognized for its high level of customer satisfaction and powerful yet easy-to-use solutions, Sophos has received many industry awards, as well as positive reviews and certifications.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com
