2 October 2006
Top ten malware threats and hoaxes reported to Sophos in September 2006
Number of new threats discovered doubles in September
Sophos, a world leader in IT security, has revealed the most prevalent malware threats and hoaxes causing problems for computer users around the world during September 2006.
The report, compiled from Sophos's global network of monitoring stations, reveals that Netsky-P continues its domination at the top of the charts, with the top five most prevalent pieces of malware retaining their position from last month. There were no new entries in September's chart and just one re-entry - MyDoom-AJ.
While the overall proportion of infected email has dropped to an all time low of just one in 300 (0.33%), the number of new threats continues to rise. In September Sophos identified 4,080 new threats, compared with just 1,998 in the previous month, bringing the total of malware protected against to 190,745. This clearly indicates that cyber criminals are increasingly moving away from mass mailed attacks in favour of more subtle and menacing attacks, targeted at just a small group of users.
The top ten list of malware in September 2006 reads as follows:
"Internet criminals have had a busy September - producing twice as many new threats as they did in the previous month," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "The new malware we are detecting can be much more sinister than the old timers that dominate the chart. It often aims to steal sensitive data and information - something which can be extremely damaging to both a company's reputation and its bottom line. We recommend that all organisations should put in place a consolidated security solution that protects against both known and unknown malware threats."
Top ten hoaxes and chain letters in September 2006 were as follows:
Graphics of the above top ten virus chart are available.
- Attacks rise 70% on social networks
- SEO poisoning and scareware on the rise
- Targeted attacks and cyberespionage
About Sophos
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.
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