Virus Top 20 brought to you by Kaspersky Lab

Leading anti-virus, anti-spam, and anti-hacking software provider, Kaspersky Lab, recently launched in the Middle East. Their solutions protect workstations, file and mail servers, email gateways, firewalls and PDAs (personal digital assistants) against information threats. Kaspersky Lab publishes its monthly virus top 20 on their website at www.kaspersky.com.

Virus Top 20 for January 2005
Position and Name
1. Email-Worm.Win32.Zafi.d
2. Email-Worm.Win32.Zafi.b
3. Email-Worm.Win32.NetSky.q
4. Email-Worm.Win32.LovGate.w
5. Email-Worm.Win32.NetSky.b
6. Email-Worm.Win32.NetSky.aa
7. Email-Worm.Win32.Bagle.z
8. Email-Worm.Win32.Bagle.ay
9. Email-Worm.Win32.Mydoom.m
10. Trojan-Spy.HTML.Smitfraud.a
11. Trojan-Spy.HTML.Bankfraud.ca
12. Email-Worm.Win32.Mydoom.l
13. Email-Worm.Win32.NetSky.y
14. Email-Worm.Win32.NetSky.d
15. Email-Worm.Win32.NetSky.t
16. Email-Worm.Win32.Bagle.gen
17. Email-Worm.Win32.NetSky.r
18. Email-Worm.Win32.Bagle.ai
19. Email-Worm.Win32.Lovgate.ad
20. Email-Worm.Win32.Lovgate.ae
Other malicious programs

January's Top Twenty hasn't changed that much in comparison to December's. Zafi still tops the ratings, with NetSky.q, the most widespread worm in 2004, following closely in 3rd place. A new entrant, Bagle.ay, was first detected on 27th January, and triggered a red alert, rising to 8th place in the course of just a few days. Just like its predecessors, Bagle.ay installs a Trojan proxy server on the victim machine. The infected computer can later be used as a spamming platform, often to send out new versions of the worm. The Bagle epidemic developed in a typical way, a serious outbreak caused by high numbers of the worm in mail traffic, due to it being sent to millions of email addresses. After a few days, however, this initial activity died down, and Bagle.ay will probably be a lot lower down the February rankings.

As well as this monthly update, Kaspersky Lab provides free access to the world's most comprehensive virus information source, the Kaspersky virus encyclopaedia, visit www.antivirus.com. The encyclopaedia contains detailed information about computer viruses from the moment they appear. Kaspersky Lab supports the largest collection of virus definitions in the world, with over 100,000 records.

Heralded for the accuracy and frequency of its updates, including hourly updates for continual protection when necessary, the Moscow lab outpaces any of the leading virus detection centres. Eugene Kaspersky, Founder and Head of Anti-Virus Research, Kaspersky Lab commented "With the advent of more sophisticated viruses, dynamic worms, rampant spyware and sophisticated new cyber threats affecting IT systems daily, Kaspersky Lab is well positioned to capture and service the growing anti-virus and security market in the Middle East". "Security researchers hold Kaspersky Lab in high esteem," according to Brian Burke, IDC Research Manager. "Although the antivirus market is competitive, Kaspersky Lab's solid solution and rapid threat response will drive growth as it expands in the market."

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