Top Ten Viruses Detected by Panda ActiveScan in November

In November, the “I” variant of the Klez worm once again topped the ranking of malicious code infecting users’ systems, according to data compiled from Panda ActiveScan.

According to the data collected by the Panda Software’s free, online antivirus, last month Klez.I was the cause of over 20 percent of all recorded incidents, followed a long way behind by Bugbear (responsible for just under 11 percent of infections). November’s list also included PSW.Bugbear (6.35%), Opaserv.E (6.09%),Bride and Elkern.C, the latter two responsible for almost six percent of infections each. The rest of the viruses that made up the month’s ‘Top Ten’ were Funlove. 4096, Opaserv.H, Nimda and Opaserv, all of which were found to be the culprit in less than 6 percent of positive cases.

This latest list of the most virulent malicious code drawn up from the results of Panda ActiveScan illustrates the following trends and developments:

– Klez.I has returned as the virus most frequently detected by Panda ActiveScan. Since it first appeared in April 2002, it has remained at the head of the monthly ranking every month barring October, when it was overtaken by the ferocious Bugbear.

– The prevalence of closely-related malicious codes such as PSW.Bugbear a Trojan created by Bugbear on infected computers, or Elkern.C a virus spread along with the Klez.I virus.

– Only one new virus, Bride, figures in the ranking, while veteran viruses such as Nimda are still out and about infecting users’ machines.

-The presence of three members of the notorious Opaserv ‘family’.

Virus % frequency
W32/Klez.I 20.07%
W32/Bugbear 10.77%
Trj/PSW.Bugbear 6.35%
W32/Opaserv.E 6.09%
W32/Bride 5.62%
W32/Elkern. C 5.62%
W32/Funlove. 4096 5.42%
W32/Opaserv.H 4.95%
W32/Nimda 4.63%
W32/Opaserv 4.54%