Bugbear-B worm major irritant of 2003. (Virus Notes).

A report by Sophos says that the number of new viruses being written is increasing. In total, Sophos has detected and protected against 3,855 new viruses in the first six months of 2003, up 17.5 percent on the same period last year. Since January 2003, the single most prevalent virus was the Bugbear-B worm, accounting for almost 12 percent of reports to Sophos. The worm tops the chart even though it was first seen just a few weeks ago in early June. Its older sibling, Bugbear-A, generated a further 2.5 percent of enquiries. For the first six months of 2003, the top ten viruses (as recorded by Sophos's technical support department) are as follows, with the most frequently occurring virus at number one:

 1. W32/Bugbear-B  11.6%  (Bugbear variant)
 2. W32/Sobig-C     9.7%  (Sobig variant)
 3. W32/Klez-H      8.4%  (Klez variant)
 4. W32/Sobig-B     5.3%  (Sobig worm)
 5. W32/Sobig-A     3.3%  (Sobig worm)
 6. W32/Avril-B     3.2%  (Avril variant)
 7. W32/Bugbear-A   2.5%  (Bugbear worm)
 8. W32/Avril-A     2.3%  (Avril womi)
 8. W32/Fizzer-A    2.3%  (Fizzer worm)
10. W32/Yaha-E      1.8%  (Yaha variant)
Others             49.6%

Comment:

Bugbear-B entered the frame late, but nevertheless it has generated more enquiries that any other virus in the last six months. By morphing its contents every time it forwards itself-and by spoofing the email address of the person who sent the virus-Bugbear-B has been the most prevalent and irritating virus so far this year.

Generating almost 10 percent of enquiries was the Sobig-C worm. This worm, which posed as a support email from Microsoft's Bill Gates, reached number two in the charts, even though it bad a limited window for infection-it was programmed to fall dormant just one week after it was released. In all, five Sobig worms have been released this year, with variants A and B also appearing in the chart. Combined, the short-lived Sobig worms have had the biggest impact on business networks this year.

In contrast to these temporary threats is Klez-H. Even though this worm was first seen in March 2002, it is still the third most reported worm in 2003.

Other developments in 2003 so far include: The number of new viruses was 17.5 percent higher than for the same period last year, suggesting that virus writers are unperturbed by Januarys conviction of Simon Vallor, author of three mass-mailing worms. Vallor received a two-year jail sentence from UK courts in January.

www.sophos.com