Old internet security threats are continuing to plague
the web, indicating that users are not doing enough to protect
themselves.
Internet security software company Sophos has published the top
10 malware threats causing problems for computer users around the
world during August 2006.
The report reveals little movement, with last month's four most
prevalent pieces of malware retaining their positions.
There are no new entries in August's chart, with one re-entry,
the Mytob-E worm, which last appeared in the chart in May
2005.
This month's top two - Netsky-P and Mytob-AS - were also the
most common in August 2005.
Sophos says that a large number of computers connected to the
internet are simply not protected against threats, which suggests
that education on IT security is not making a global impact.
Protection against Netsky-P has been available for more than two
years, yet it remains the most widespread e-mail worm.
Just one in 278 (0.4%) of e-mails are now infected by viruses,
which was a significant decrease compared to August 2005, when one
in every 50 e-mails circulating were viral.
However, Sophos identified 1,998 new threats in August, bringing
the total number of malware programs that can be protected against
to 186,665.
Sophos said the majority of the new threats (71.8%) were Trojan
horses, which in most cases, are specifically targeted at
particular groups of people and do not spread on their own.
The top ten 10 of malware in August 2006 was:
1. Netsky-P 19.9%
2. Mytob-AS 15.8%
3. Bagle-Zip 8%
4. Nyxem-D 6.4%
5. Netsky-D 4.4%
6. Mytob-C 4.1%
7. Mytob-E 3.2% re-entry
8. Mydoom-O 3%
9. Zafi-B 2.7%
10. Mytob-FO 1.5%
Others 31%