Viruses: still the bane for business - News - Security

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Viruses: still the bane for business

By Vivienne Fisher, ZDNet Australia
August 01, 2002
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/Viruses-still-the-bane-for-business/0,130061744,120267065,00.htm

Although it's still at the top of the ranks in infection rates, Klez isn't the only virus companies should be worried about.

With outbreaks of worms such as Klez, and warnings about possible large-scale worm attacks on the horizon, industry pundits are urging businesses to take heed.

Paul Ducklin, head of global support at anti-virus software vendor Sophos, said there are still some old viruses out there which are continuing to infect Australian businesses.

"Three different viruses are almost tied at the top of the chart, breaking the dominance that Klez has shown over the past few months," Ducklin said.

According to Ducklin, Badtrans and Magistr--two older viruses--still account for about 10 percent of reports, with Nimba still generating 1.5 percent of reports. He also pointed to the fact that more than 30 percent of infections were from other viruses.

In antivirus company Central Command's top 12 viruses for last month, Klez.E topped the charts, followed by Elkern.C and Sircam. Figures are based on virus occurrences confirmed through its Emergency Virus Response Team, according to a statement.

Andrew Gordon, managed services architect at anti-virus software vendor Trend Micro, said that the total number of new viruses it recorded for the quarter (April to June) was 375, up from 313 the previous quarter. Worldwide, Trend Micro ranked Klez as number one in terms of reported infections, followed by Funlove.

"One we've seen quite a lot of is js_exception.gn, a java script virus," Gordon said. It's not particularly destructive, he added, but will change the start-up site for your browser to one of a few specific sites. Gordon said that viruses of this type were of concern, and showed that businesses needed to be scanning what was coming through the corporate gateway.