Security news
Security news1 September 2000
Top ten viruses reported to Sophos in August 2000
As compiled by Sophos Anti-Virus
This is the latest in a series of monthly charts counting down the ten most frequently occurring viruses as compiled by Sophos, worldwide leaders in anti-virus protection.
For August 2000, the chart is as follows, with the most frequently occurring virus at number one:
| Position | Last month |
Malware | Percentage of reports | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | VBS/Kakworm |
| ||
| 2 | 3= | VBS/LoveLet-G |
| ||
| 3 | 1 | VBS/Stages-A |
| ||
| 4 | 8= | WM97/Marker-C |
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| 5 | Re-entry | W32/Ska-Happy99 |
| ||
| 6= | 3= | WM97/Marker-O |
| ||
| 6= | Re-entry | XM97/Laroux |
| ||
| 8= | Re-entry | W32/Pretty |
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| 8= | New | WM97/Thus-T |
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| 8= | New | XM97/Divi-S |
| ||
| Others | 35.5% | ||||
"In a month of hype about Pokemon viruses and Palm trojans it is interesting to view statistics of the true virus threat. Email-aware script worms dominate the charts," said Graham Cluley, head of corporate communications for Sophos Anti-Virus. "Kakworm continues to be the most commonly encountered virus worldwide. Many companies have still not bothered to roll-out the patch Microsoft issued last year to protect against it."
The main issue in the anti-virus industry in August has been the hyping of viruses for mobile platforms such as WAP and Palmtops. However, no virus currently exists for these platforms.
VBS/Kakworm exploits security vulnerabilities in Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Outlook which mean it is possible to be infected just by reading an email, rather than by launching an attached file.
More details on VBS/Kakworm and how to protect against it are described here.
Compiled by Sophos's technical support team, the top ten chart is collated from calls to Sophos's 24 hour, 365 days a year technical support line.
Graphics of the above Top Ten chart are available here.
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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
