30 April 2004
Top ten viruses and hoaxes reported to Sophos in April 2004
Netsky still dominating the virus chart
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 April 2004, shows four new viruses have entered the chart, with Netsky variants taking seven places.
The top ten viruses in April 2004 were as follows:
"Several Netsky strains continued to cause serious difficulties for unprotected computer users throughout the month of April. With the author of the original Netsky worm claiming to have shared the viral code, it's possible that copycats might be getting their paws dirty by sending out new Netsky variants," said Carole Theriault, security consultant, Sophos. "Although this flurry of virus activity sounds like a nightmare, with automatically updated anti-virus protection at the gateway and on the desktop, these nasties can be stopped regardless of how they try to infiltrate the network. Not only does this protect individual computers, but it also helps slow down the rate of infection, which is good for all of us."
Sophos analysed and protected against 740 new viruses in April. The total number of viruses Sophos now protects against is 89,852.
The top ten hoaxes reported to Sophos during April are as follows:
"A new entry to the hoax chart this month is the Nigerian letter scam," continued Theriault. "Several versions of this letter exist, all designed to defraud and extort money from email users. On a positive note, one scammer, Peter Okoeguale, was this month sentenced to 20 months in jail by a judge in North Wales after police traced eleven of his victims."
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.
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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