Zafi-D has kept its place at the top of the virus charts for a second consecutive month, accounting for 44 per cent of all reports of anti-virus vendor Sophos in January 2005. The worm, which poses as a Christmas greeting, is continuing to cause problems well into the New Year.

Runner-up spot went to NetSky-P. The worm - first spotted in March 2004 - accounted for 19.4 per cent of reports of viral activity to Sophos. Despite extensive media reports about new worms and viruses throughout January not one spread widely enough to make it into Sophos's chart. Sophos estimates that 4.3 per cent of emails circulating last month were viral, down from 5.6 per cent for December 2004

Sophos also keep tabs on hoax emails doing the round. Two emails related to the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster debuted in Sophos's hoax top ten last month. One featured a picture of a boy caught in the disaster and the other involved a 419 advanced fee fraud scam themed around the international calamity. These email appeared in ninth and sixth places in the hoax chart, far behind a Hotmail hoax, which is spending its seven consecutive month in Sophos's league table. ®

Top ten viruses in January 2005, according to Sophos

1. Zafi-D
2. NetSky-P
3. Zafi-B
4. Sober-I
5. NetSky-D
6. NetSky-Z
7. Bagle-AA
8. NetSky-B
9. MyDoom-O
10. NetSky-C

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