This article is more than 1 year old
SirCam tops Virus charts
This Worm is not for Turning
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
- Sircam
- Magistr
- SadMind (Unix worm)
- Hybris
- Apology
- Flcss
- Kakworm
- Ethan
- Code Red II
- Haptime
®
External links
Top ten viruses reported to Sophos in August 2001
Related Stories
SirCam tops July virus charts
SirCam virus hogs connections with spam
Symantec fails to stop SirCam
FBI cyber-brainiacs infect themselves with SirCam
Magistr continues three month reign as top virus
Users haven't learned any lessons from the Love Bug
Rise in viruses within emails outpacing growth of email
Biting the hand that feeds IT
