Klez usurped by new viruses

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 2 Jun 2003 at 13:00

Microsoft email virus accounted for one in five virus reports, according to Sophos.

Sophos' latest figures for virus activity in May puts two new viruses above Klez, that had previously topped the chart for more than a year.

Palyh-A, the email worm that also spreads through network shares and purports to be an email from Microsoft technical support, came in at number one, taking 19.9 per cent of the month's reports.

The Fizzer worm took the second spot, with 9.8 per cent of reports. This email worm also took advantage of file-sharing networks to spread.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said: 'Both these prove that it isn't enough just to block your email gateway - companies should ensure the virus protection on their desktops is automatically updated.'

Klez, Lovegate and Bugbear remained in the top ten for May, and the familiar faces of Nimda and Opaserv also crept back in.

On the hoax front, JDBGMGR was just ousted off the top spot by the Nokia giveaway hoax email, with 11.7 per cent of hoax reports.

For more information, visit the Sophos Web site.