MessageLabs, a provider of Internet-level managed email security service, have released statistics on the top ten viruses of January 2002. In first place is BadTrans-B a virus first detected two months ago yet still appears to be the most infectious virus on the Internet. In the past month MessegeLabs reported to have stopped 48,393 BadTrans emails. MyParty follows in at second place. This virus was short-lived however managed to wreak havoc last week with a reported 35,603 infectious emails blocked.
Sophos, an antivirus vendor, discovered and provided protection against 792 new viruses in January 2002. The vendor report the following top ten viruses for January:
1. BadTrans-B
2. MyParty-A
3. Magistr-B
4. SirCam
5. Nimda-A
6. Maldal-G
7. Magistr-A
8. Gokar-A
9. Klez-E
10. Nimda-D
In Germany, consumer ISP’s provide virus scanning services for home users. This may be introduced in the UK but as Alex Shipp, chief antivirus technologist at MessageLabs points out, this may raise privacy implications as ISP’s will need to get users to sign new contracts in order to introduce new services.
Click here for statistics on viruses blocked by MessageLabs.
