
Security fears play into virus writers' hands
By Jo Best
Published: 2 October 2003 12:27 GMT
The most commonly received virus for September is a new entry – the Swen worm, which fools users into opening an attachment by masquerading as a Microsoft security update email.
The virus made up 23.5 per cent of all reported viruses last month pushing the malware big boys of the last few months down the chart, according to figures from Sophos. Swen, which also goes by the name Gibe, is thought to be spreading so well due to the professional look of the email that carries it. It purports to be from 'Microsoft Technical Assistance', offering a cumulative anti-virus patch. Swen spreads via email and through IRC, Kazaa and LANs.
The second most widely received virus last month was Dumaru.A, which uses similar tactics to Swen to infect users' PCs. While it claims to be from security@microsoft.com and encourages users to 'use this patch immediately', its approach is not as sophisticated as Swen's, using a text-based email featuring the less than convincing line: "Dear friend, use this Internet Explorer patch now! There are dangerous virus in the internet now!"
August's number one virus, Sobig, has two entries in this month's chart, with the Sobig.F rating a miserable fourth at 5.6 per cent of all reported viruses and Sobig.A at number six with 4.4 per cent. The equally popular Blaster fares equally badly, scraping in with just 2.7 per cent – despite extensive publicity and warnings on the subject, it seems users are still not patching against virus threats.
September's full chart:
1. W32/Gibe-F 23.5 per cent 2. W32/Dumaru-A 18.1 per cent 3. W32/Mimail-A 15 per cent 4. W32/Sobig-F 5.6 per cent 5. W32/Nachi-A 5.5 per cent 6. W32/Sobig-A 4.4 per cent 7. W32/Bugbear-B 2.9 per cent 8= W32/Klez-H 2.7 per cent 8= W32/Blaster-A 2.7 per cent 10. W32/Parite-B 1.3 per cent
Others 18.3 per cent
Ensuring All Desktops conform to the Bank's Security policy and have anti-virus and sufficient user lockdown policies applied as required. Updating ...
patching programmes, anti-virus, security scan management - System backups- Maintaining network inventory To succeed as the Network Engineer / ...
IT Security Analyst - South ESSENTIAL IT Security background within an IT Support environment Experience of supporting IT security infrastructure IT ...
Agenda Setters 2009
Welcome to the ninth annual Agenda Setters poll – silicon.com's list of the top 50 most influential individuals in the technology and IT industries, from techies and CIOs to entrepreneurs and business leaders. Find out more in our latest special report.
Stories from the web...
Copyright © 2008 CBS Interactive Limited. All rights reserved. Top of page
Clive Longbottom Windows 7: Not perfect - but ready for prime time Microsoft's latest OS fixes most of Vista's ills - but still has challenges ahead
Stephen Kleynhans Mind the details with Windows 7 Just because it might work better than Vista, it doesn't mean you can be sloppy