Worms
Worms

SoBig triggers worst month on record

Antivirus firms report unprecedented spike in infections during August as new worms flood email systems

Robert Jaques and Iain Thomson

SoBig.F has shot to the top of the virus charts in what the security industry has described as one of the worst months on record.

Many antivirus manufacturers detail the number of infections recorded on a monthly basis and have reported four major new worms.

Advertisement

Despite the harm caused by the Blaster virus, it was left trailing by SoBig.F which, at its worst, was responsible for nearly three-quarters of all email traffic.

Steven Sundermeier, vice president of products and services at Central Command, commented: "The month of August turned into a plague of internet worms affecting computer users worldwide.

"Multiple aggressive internet worms made it the worst month in history for the number of infections reported, and their impact on organisations and productivity."

Graham Cluley, senior analyst at antivirus vendor Sophos, added: "August 2003 will be remembered as one of the worst months in the history of computer security.

"The top four viruses in our chart are all new entries, any of which would have been number one in a normal month."

Sundermeier claimed that SoBig.F had left networks in danger of collapse. "The extremely aggressive spreading nature of Sobig.F created significant volumes of email traffic causing email networks around the world to collapse," he said.

SoBig.F accounted for 30 to 60 per cent of infections in most antivirus firms' charts. Blaster.A, Nachi.A and MiMail.A averaged from five to 10 per cent of infections, and Klez.H is still in the top 10.

In one chart Klez.H has been in the top 10 for 19 months.

Central Command said that it updated its Vexira Antivirus product for 816 different viruses, worms and other malicious applications during August.

  • Have your say
  • Send to a friend
  • Print
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Share

Tags:

Do you agree?

Further reading

Virus

SoBig shuts down ... for the moment

SoBig.F worm deactivates, but new variant expected soon

Virus

Business giants Blasted by virus

Canon and Sainsbury's forced to shut down systems as worm strikes

SoBig virus is IT managers' top fear

Send this story to 10 people and get a slice of Bill Gates's fortune (just kidding)

Spam emails hide key logger virus

Careful what you click on - it could steal your identity

Related whitepapers

Related jobs

Most watched

Social networking

Summit: How businesses should manage their brands online

In part one of V3.co.uk's interview with Dirk Singer, he dicusses social media monitoring strategies

RIM discusses new developer tools

Blackberry exec on the latest offerings for programmers

Analysis and Reports

Remote access - Three steps to getting connected

3.4 million UK professionals now work from home – is your company equipped?

Cost benefits of a global collaboration network

This white paper is a must read for organisations looking for evidence of the bottom-line benefits of high-definition video and voice communications

Poll

Impact of Information Overload poll

Impact of Information Overload poll

What is the biggest problem your firm faces as a result of the data explosion?

View poll results

Advertisement

White paper library

Keep up to date with the latest products, services and technologies from the world's leading IT companies; IThound.com brings you over 6,000 white papers, case studies and analyst reports.

Advertisement

Newsletter signup

Sign up for our range of FREE newsletters:

Existing User

Newsletter user login:

Enter email address to edit your newsletter preferences

Job of the week

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Hiring now on ComputingCareers:

Related IT jobs

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Advertisement

Spotlight

Summit: Views From the Valley

V3.co.uk's US office weighs in on the information overload crisis

money

Summit: Managing information overload in a recession

Balancing exploding data with shrinking budgets

Chambers outlines Cisco's corporate plans

CEO describes broader company focus

Social networking

Summit: How businesses should manage their brands online

In part one of V3.co.uk's interview with Dirk Singer, he...

Primary Navigation