Central Command: Top 12 Viruses For June 2003

Worm/BugBear.B Ranks Number One For June 2003, Worm/Sobig Family Members Dominate The Chart

MEDINA, Ohio July 1, 2003 – Central Command, a leading provider of PC anti-virus software and computer security services today released its monthly listing of the top twelve viruses reported for June, 2003. The report, coined the “Dirty Dozen”, is based on the number of virus occurrences confirmed through Central Command’s Emergency Virus Response Team.

The table below represents the most prevalent viruses for June 2003, number one being the most frequent.

Ranking Virus Name Percentage

1. Worm/BugBear.B 24.8%
2. Worm/Klez.E (including G) 18.2%
3. Worm/Sobig.C 10.7%
4. Worm/Sobig.E 9.8%
5. Worm/Sobig.A 5.5%
6. W32/Yaha.E 3.2%
7. Worm/Hawawi.E 2.4%
8. Worm/Sobig.B 1.3%
9. Worm/BugBear 1.3%
10. W32/Funlove.4099 1.1%
11. W32/Nimda 1.0%
12. W32/Parite 0.7%
Others 20.0%

“For the second straight month a Dirty Dozen newcomer debuts at number one. This time it was Worm/BugBear.B,” said Steven Sundermeier, product manager at Central Command, Inc. “Worm/BugBear.B was triumphantly spreading around the globe at an alarming rate and it is considered highly malicious because it can expose sensitive data.” Among other functionalities, Worm/BugBear.B drops a keylogger component that can record and leak vital information about the user, contains a backdoor designed to wait on TCP Port 1080 and listen for instructions from its creator, as well as, the ability to disable personal firewall and antiviral software.

The Worm/Sobig virus family accounts for one-third of the Dirty Dozen (#3, #4, #5 and #8). “In the battle of the Sobig’s, Worm/Sobig.C held off its new sibling [variant E] to be the leader of the family. This is the first time in the history of our Dirty Dozen that a virus family has occupied four spots. Worm/Hawawi.E was the other new entry for the June report.”