2 September 2002
Top ten viruses and hoaxes reported to Sophos in August 2002
For August 2002, the chart is as follows, with the most frequently occurring virus at number one:
"Only two viruses in August's top ten are brand new entries. Instead, the chart is full of old stalwarts such as Klez-H, Badtrans-B, Sircam and Nimda," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos Anti-Virus. "Klez-H and its nasty bedfellow ElKern-C, have accounted for almost a quarter of enquiries to Sophos's support centre this month, even though protection has been available since February. Users getting caught out by them appear not to have updated their anti-virus software in six months. With hundreds of new viruses appearing each month, this lax approach is just asking for a security breach."
The top ten hoaxes reported to Sophos during August 2002 are as follows:
"Hoaxes continue to cause almost as much confusion as real viruses. The multi-lingual JDBGMGR hoax, which claimed to be an extremely dangerous virus, has been perplexing computer users ever since it first appeared in May," continued Cluley. "Simple to implement anti-hoax policies can help limit this confusion and will prevent hoaxes from needlessly clogging up email servers and wasting valuable bandwidth."
Sophos has made available a free, always-fresh, information feed for intranets and websites which means users can always find out about the latest viruses and hottest hoaxes.
Graphics of the virus top ten chart are available here.
More information about safe computing, including anti-hoax policies.
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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