Barrage of Viruses Hits in October

A record number of viruses hit the Internet in October but, but none of

them were wide-spread and dangerous.

”We saw more new viruses being written last month than in any month

since our records began in the late 1980s,” says Graham Cluley, a

technology consultant for Sophos Inc., an anti-virus and anti-spam

company with U.S. headquarters in Lynnfield, Mass. ”But even though

these things are being written, it doesn’t necessarily mean the problems

are worsening. Most viruses don’t successfully spread in the wild and

cause a massive epidemic. They weren’t worse, just more than ever

before.”

Sophos reports 1,685 new viruses and variants came out in October.

And Central Command, an anti-virus and anti-spam company based in Medina,

Ohio, also reports big numbers for October.

Central Command analysts updated 60 percent more virus signatures in

October than they did in September, which did happen to be a relatively

slow month, according to Steve Sundermeier, a vice president with Central

Command. This past October also saw 35 percent more virus signatures than

the same month in 2004.

”While we were busy in terms of the different variants, nothing really

crazy and big came out,” says Sundermeier. ”The number one [malware] on

our list for October was Netsky-Q, which has been around since March of

2004.” Central Command had name this variant Netsky-P, but recently has

changed the name to Netsky-Q to better match up with other anti-virus

vendors.

Cluley says the fact that Netsky-Q remains atop various threat lists,

clearly shows that a major malware has not hit the streets recently.

”Normally, we’d expect that to be toppled off the top by another new

worm,” Cluley told eSecurityPlanet. ”But virus writers know when

they write a big viruses, it draws attention to them, so they’re writing

more Trojan Horses instead. Trojans don’t spread on their own… This

makes it less likely to make headlines and less likely that the

anti-virus vendors will focus on it.”

The Mytob-GH virus, which came out in the middle of October, is making

the rounds and garnering some attention, Cluley points out. ”We think

that will make a significant impact on the November figures,” he adds.

”But it’s no epidemic.”

For October, here is Central Command’s list of the most prevalent

threats: