31 July 2002
Top ten viruses and hoaxes reported to Sophos in July 2002
Politically motivated virus makes it into the top three
This is the latest in a series of monthly charts counting down the ten most frequently occurring viruses and hoaxes as compiled by Sophos, a world leader in corporate anti-virus protection.
For July 2002, the chart is as follows, with the most frequently occurring virus at number one:
"While Klez tops the virus chart again this month, more recent discoveries Frethem and Yaha are close on its heels," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos Anti-Virus. "Yaha came to prominence as a politically motivated virus, launching a rudimentary denial of service attack on the Pakistan government's website and encouraging Indian hackers and virus writers to join forces and attack Pakistan."
"Arriving in an email with the subject 'Re: Your password', Frethem relies on a simple psychological trick to entice users to open the email. The worm is contained in an attached EXE file. As ever, blocking unwanted file types at the gateway would deal with these viruses."
The top ten hoaxes reported to Sophos during July 2002 are as follows:
"JDBGMGR has dominated the hoax chart since its discovery in May," continued Cluley. "The prevalence of "'A Virtual Card for you' and "'Budweiser frogs screensaver' several years after they originated highlights both the severity of hoaxes and how far we still have to go in educating users in safe computing practices. Unlike viral code, hoaxes are not detected or disabled by anti-virus software, so can continue to clog up email bandwidth longer than many true viruses. To prevent this, computer users should refrain from forwarding virus warnings to their friends and colleagues."
810 new viruses were discovered and protected against by Sophos during July 2002.
The total number of viruses Sophos now detects and protects against is 75281.
More information about Klez.
Graphics of the virus top ten chart are available here.
More information about safe computing, including anti-hoax policies.
- USA number 1 for malware and spam
- Huge surge in email attachment attacks
- Scareware makes users buy bogus products
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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