SirCam has retained the dubious distinction of being the most infectious computer virus for the last month.

The privacy-threatening, bandwidth-stealing worm headed the monthly chart of virus reports compiled by antivirus vendor Sophos and accounted for 48.9 per cent of calls to its support centre in August. It was followed by Magistr (13.0 per cent), June's chart topper, and the Unix worm Sadmind (3.6 per cent).

Users continue to get infected with SirCam and Hybris because neither arrive with a standard filename or subject name; this leads gullible consumers into opening infected attachments, according to Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

Sophos found 1051 new viruses during August 2001, down slightly on July's figure of 1276.

Top ten viruses reported to Sophos in August

1. 
   
2. Sircam
   
3. Magistr
   
4. SadMind (Unix worm)
   
5. Hybris
   
6. Apology
   
7. Flcss
   
8. Kakworm
   
9. Ethan
   
10. Code Red II
    
11. Haptime
    

External links

Top ten viruses reported to Sophos in August 2001

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