1 March 2004
Top ten viruses and hoaxes reported to Sophos in February 2004
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:
"Though protection for it has been available since December, Sober-C managed to claim the top position again, ahead of several higher profile worms including Mydoom-A, Netsky-B and Bagle-B," said Sean Richmond, Sophos's Technical Support Manager for Australia and New Zealand. "Sober-C travels via email and KaZaA networks and is continuing to spread widely - perhaps a sign that those being affected, should automate anti-virus updates to strengthen their defences against known threats."
"MyDoom-A, which used its large network of infected machines to attack SCO's website, may well have taken the lead if not for the built in expiry date of February 12. As it stands, it still managed to be the second most reported virus this month," continued Richmond. "MyDoom-B attempted a similar attack on Microsoft's website, however this worm fizzled and was not among Sophos's top ten."
February also saw some increased action in the fight against computer crime, with Microsoft offering another bounty of USD 250,000 to catch the author of Mydoom-B and the arrest of a female virus writer in Belgium known as Gigabyte.
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 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 virus top ten chart are available here.
More information about safe computing, including anti-hoax policies.
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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
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