March virus activity highlights peer-to-peer dangers

By Alun Williams

Posted on 1 Apr 2003 at 10:03

Sophos's top ten chart for the month of March reveals that viruses targetting peer-to-peer networks are hitting hard.

In the number one position, as it has been for the past 14 months, sits Klez. But while there is usually little movement below this, March has seen two new entries. In particular, the Gibe-D worm at number three copies itself to folders shared on the KaZaA peer-to-peer file-sharing network and typifies behaviour seen in many of the 883 new viruses, worms and Trojan horses detected in March.

'Klez continues to hang around like a bad smell - those hit by it couldn't have updated their anti-virus protection in more than a year. Now that it's possible to receive fully automated updates, there's really no excuse. And although it's easy to protect against Klez, it's a seriously nasty virus to recover from,' said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos Anti-Virus. 'Indicating the growing popularity of file sharing, this month's highest new entry is Gibe, a worm that spreads via the KaZaA network. Businesses need to have a long hard think about whether these applications have a valid place on their networks.'

On the hoax front, JDGMGR has finally been toppled from the top slot by WTC Survivor that claims to warn of an 11 September virus. This may well be capitalising on heightened wariness due to the ongoing war. And with the erstwhile king JBGMGR taking a significant 15.5 per cent at number two, expect teddy bear Java hoax to regain its crown.

For more information, see the Sophos Web site.