Top 20 viruses January 2004
1 New I-Worm.Mydoom.a 78,32
2 -1 I-Worm.Swen 6,57
3 -1 I-Worm.Mimail.c 3,63
4 +2 I-Worm.Sober.c 2,11
5 -1 I-Worm.Mimail.a 1,96
6 New I-Worm.Bagle 1,12
7 - I-Worm.Klez.h 0,80
8 -4 I-Worm.Mimai.g 0,74
9 - I-Worm.Sobig.f 0,54
10 -5 I-Worm.Tanatos.b 0,34
11 +3 I-Worm.Lentin.j 0,30
12 re-entry I-Worm.Lentin.g 0,27
13 -5 I-Worm.Lentin.m 0,26
14 New Macro.Word97.Swatch.b 0,23
15 -5 I-Worm.Dumaru.a 0,22
16 -4 Macro.Word97.Thus-based 0,22
17 -4 Macro.Word97.Saver 0,21
18 -3 I-Worm.Lentin.o 0,20
19 New I-Worm.Dumaru.j 0,15
20 -9 I-Worm.Mimail.j 0,15
*Other malicious programs 1,64
Mydoom unarguably led the virus
hit-parade in January. The worm
appeared on January 27 and accounted for more than three quarters of all
infections. In fact, within a week Mydoom beat all the statistics
produced by Sobig.f, last year's leader.
We have three other newcomers to the top
twenty: Bagle, Swatch.b and
Dumaru.j. Bagle would have topped the charts with the outbreak it
caused in mid-January, if it hadn't been for Mydoom. The appearance of
a macro-virus, Swatch.b in the top twenty is particularly noteworthy, as
it was first detected in the wild in September 2003, but this is the
first time it has surfaced in the top 20.
It is difficult to say why Swatch.b
jumped in the ratings; however, two
other macro-viruses also made it into the top twenty which seems to
confirm that rumours of the demise of MS Word macro-viruses are
premature. The latest version of Dumaru, Dumaru.j is the final new
entrant on our list this month.
These four new viruses, taken together
with the return of Lentin.g, have
completely squeezed out traditional file viruses and backdoors.
Mydoom.a easily pushed aside the previous
leaders, Swem and Mimail.c.
In the meantime, Sober.c is following in the footsteps of the original
Sober: Sober.a started in sixth place, moved to fourth place and
finally disappeared from the top twenty entirely. Sober.c was in sixth
place in December, and is currently in fourth place - where will Sober.c
be in February?
Last year's leader, Sobig.f has still not
surrendered. Sobig was ninth
in December and remains in this position in January; this is especially
interesting as Sobig.f was scheduled to de-activate on September 10,
2003.
Overall, malicious programs have started
2004 with record highs. We are
left wondering what next month will bring.
Kaspersky Labs Corporate Communications
10, Geroyev Panfilovtsev St, Moscow,
125363, Russia
Tel.: +7 095 948 56 50; Fax: +7 095 948 43 31
E-mail: info@kaspersky.com; http://www.kaspersky.com;
http://www.viruslist.com
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