Security news
Security news2 October 2000
Top ten viruses reported to Sophos in September 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 September 2000, the chart is as follows, with the most frequently occurring virus at number one:
| Position | Last month |
Malware | Percentage of reports | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | VBS/Kakworm |
| ||
| 2 | 2 | VBS/LoveLet-G |
| ||
| 3 | New | W32/Apology-B |
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| 4 | New | WM97/Metys-F |
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| 5= | New | Troj/Qaz |
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| 5= | New | XM97/Jini-A |
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| 7 | 4 | WM97/Marker-C |
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| 8 | 3 | VBS/Stages-A |
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| 9 | Re-entry | WM97/Ethan |
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| 10 | 5 | W32/Ska-Happy99 |
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| Others | 39.2% | ||||
"Kakworm continues to dominate the virus statistics," said Peter Cooper, UK Support Manager at Sophos Anti-Virus. "It has been in the top two every month since it was discovered in March despite the fact that a patch has been available from Microsoft for over a year and up-to-date anti-virus software detects it. This further highlights the need for companies to take on board basic security measures."
September saw the arrest of CIH virus author, Chen Ing-Hau in Taiwan. The virus, which triggers on the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, caused over $250 million damage in South Korea alone last year, infecting a quarter of a million computers according to government reports. The news was welcomed as sending a strong message to virus writers that they will be caught and punished.
VBS/Kakworm exploits security vulnerabilities in Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Outlook which means 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
