1 July 2005
Top ten viruses and hoaxes reported to Sophos in June 2005
Sophos, a world leader in protecting businesses against spam and viruses,
has published a report revealing the top ten viruses and hoaxes causing
problems for businesses around the world during the month of June 2005.
The report, compiled from Sophos's global network of monitoring stations,
reveals that the family of Mytob variants have exploded into the chart,
holding seven of the top ten positions and accounting for over 40% of the
top ten threats reported to Sophos.
The top ten viruses in June 2005 were as follows:
"It seems that the more established virus families, such as Netsky and
Zafi, are meeting their match," said Carole Theriault, security consultant
at Sophos. "The Mytob-BE worm, in lead position this month, spreads via
email and opens a backdoor on the infected computer, allowing unauthorised
and remote users to access the PC's contents. It also attempts to block
access to computer security websites, making it more difficult for the user
to get information on disinfection."
"Considering the plethora of Mytob worms, it seems the authors seem intent
on cracking the formula for a worm than can both bypass security measures
and collate information," continued Theriault. "There is a lot of talk in
the industry about mass-mailing worms dying off, but we are seeing no
evidence of this. Although virus writers are looking at other routes into
an organisation, such as the internet, they have certainly not given up on
taking advantage of people opening unsolicited email attachments."
Sophos identified and protected against 1,434 new viruses in June. The
total number of viruses Sophos now protects against is 106,218. Its
research shows that 2.3%, or one in 43 emails, circulating during the month
of June were viral - a decrease on the previous month.
In order to minimise exposure to viruses, Sophos recommends that companies
deploy a policy at their email gateway which blocks unwanted executable
attachments from being sent into their organisation from the outside world.
Companies should also run up-to-date anti-virus software, firewalls and
install the latest security patches.
The top ten hoaxes reported to Sophos during June 2005 were as follows:
"The Hotmail hoax continues to be the most prevalent, increasing this month
to more than 20% of all reported hoaxes, " continued Theriault. "The best
advice for hoaxes hasn't changed: avoid forwarding or responding to
unsolicited emails. Instead, simply delete them to save your business's
bandwidth from being gobbled up by this drivel."
Sophos has made available a free, constantly updated information feed for
intranets and websites which means users can always find out about the
latest viruses and hoaxes.
Graphics of the above top ten virus 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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