Security news
Security news1 June 2001
Top ten viruses reported to Sophos in May 2001
This is the latest in a series of monthly charts counting down the ten most frequently occurring viruses as compiled by Sophos, a world leader in corporate anti-virus protection.
For May 2001, the chart is as follows, with the most frequently occurring virus at number one:
| Position | Last month |
Malware | Percentage of reports | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New | VBS/VBSWG-X |
| ||
| 2 | 1 | W32/Magistr-A |
| ||
| 3 | 3 | W32/Hybris-B |
| ||
| 4 | 6= | W32/Badtrans-A |
| ||
| 5 | 4 | W32/Apology-B |
| ||
| 6 | 2 | VBS/Kakworm |
| ||
| 7 | New | VBS/VBSWG-Z |
| ||
| 8 | Re-entry | WM97/Marker-A |
| ||
| 9= | 8= | W32/Bymer-A |
| ||
| 9= | 5 | W32/Flcss |
| ||
| Others | 10.1% | ||||
"The Homepage worm, which directs infected users to pornographic websites, dominates the top ten list, closely followed by the highly destructive Magistr virus," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos Anti-Virus. "System administrators should not only ensure their company's anti-virus software is up-to-date but also implement content blocking at their email gateway to prevent unauthorised executable and Visual Basic Scripts from entering their networks."
May also saw a politically motivated virus, the Mawanella worm, which highlighted the plight of Muslim villagers in Sri Lanka. Sophos reminds users that all viruses, even those claiming to have a moral message, have an adverse effect on businesses. Not only are man-hours lost whilst systems are disinfected but companies inadvertently sending viruses to associates and customers are at risk of seriously compromising their credibility.
920 new viruses were discovered and protected against by Sophos Anti-Virus during May 2001.
The total number of viruses Sophos now detects and protects against is 64100.
More information about safe computing.
Graphics of the above Top Ten chart are available 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.
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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
