Online fears: Viruses and spam
Date: December 16, 2005Source: clickz.com
Almost 40 new viruses surfaced in November, many appearing within eight hours of each other. Commtouch identified 29 percent of the attacks to be "low intensity;" 47 percent "medium intensity;" and 24 percent "high" to "very high." Many of the new viruses (53 percent) were part of what the firm called "multi-wave" attacks. Such attacks happen when virus propagators introduce variants within hours of the initial distribution of a virus to thwart updates to anti-virus software definitions. In one case, eight variants were released within 14 hours. Forty-seven percent of new viruses in November were sent as "one-off" attacks.
The firm also identified the return of pharmaceutical spam (38.74 percent) as the most prevalent spam category. In October, spam regarding gifts had climbed to first place. In November it fell into the third rank at 18.68 percent. The second-highest category in November was enhancers (20.60 percent); with finance in fourth place at 10.25 percent.
With 40 new viruses in the wild, one would expect movement in the top 20 virus threats. Kaspersky Lab cited little movement from its October list. Mytob.c gained four percent to maintain its top spot. The Mytob family will likely earn the dubious honor of "worm of the year."
Postini reported record levels of virus distribution in November, agreeing with other firms' data. The predominant method of distribution was a .zip file attached to an e-mail in German, or one appearing to originate from the FBI or CIA.
Anti-virus firm Symantec found virus threats tempting recipients to view photos of Paris Hilton in addition to those apparently originating from government agencies.
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| 2005-12-19 03:51:00 - Viruses are really annoying .So I suggest... David Liu |
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