Top Ten Viruses And Hoaxes Reported To Sophos in April 2004
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 three new viruses have entered the chart, with Netsky variants taking seven places.
The top ten viruses in April 2004 were as follows:
1. W32/Netsky-P (Netsky variant) 23.19%
2. W32/Netsky-B (Netsky variant) 20.16%
3. W32/Netsky-D (Netsky variant) 16.76%
4. W32/Netsky-C (Netsky variant) 4.99%
5. W32/Netsky-Q (Netsky variant) 2.79% NEW ENTRY
6. W32/Sober-F (Sober variant) 1.14%
7. W32/Netsky-J (Netsky variant) 0.78%
8. W32/Bagle-Zip (Bagle variant) 0.64% NEW ENTRY
9. W32/Gibe-F (Gibe variant) 0.22%
10. W32/Netsky-T (Netsky variant) 0.21% NEW ENTRY
Others 29.12%
“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 March are as follows:
1. Hotmail hoax 14.4% NINTH MONTH AT NUMBER ONE
2. Meninas da Playboy 11.2%
3. A virtual card for you 9.1%
4. Bonsai kitten 7.3%
5. JDBGMGR 6.0%
6. WTC Survivor 5.1%
7. Budweiser frogs screensaver 5.0%
8. Bill Gates fortune 4.7%
9. Jamie Bulger 3.6%
10. Nigerian letter 1.8% NEW ENTRY
Others 31.8%
“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.”