Klez still a nuisance a year later

By Edward Hurley, News Writer 06 May 2003 | SearchSecurity.com

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After a year in circulation, the Klez worm is still riding high though not nearly at past levels.

Klez-H (or Klez-I) topped most antivirus software vendors' lists of the top malicious code for April. Yet Medina, Ohio-based Central Command found the lowest rates of Klez infection since it started last year, said Steven Sundermeier, product manager of Central Command, Inc. "Computer users are finally beginning to understand the importance of maintaining up-to-date virus protection. This is paying off in higher dividends for them, but there is still a lot of room for improvement."

According to Sundermeier, Klez accounted for 18.7% of virus infection reports for April, one year ago, it accounted for an astounding 79.2%.

Central Command saw two new viruses make its list. Worm/Lovegate.F is a network-aware worm that uses different body messages to trick recipients into opening it. Worm/Ganda is an Internet worm socially engineered to capitalize on the world's current interest in the events of the Middle East.

U.K.-based antivirus software vendor Sophos saw a new entry on its list, Datemake, a dialer programmed to dial a premium rate telephone line, typically with the intent of gaining access to adult material, the company said.

Here are the lists for April:

Sophos' top 10 viruses and worms for April:

1. W32/Klez-H (Klez variant) 12.7%

2. W32/Lovgate-E (Lovgate variant) 4.9%

3. W32/Bugbear-A (Bugbear worm) 4.3%

4. W32/Sobig-A (Sobig worm) 3.3%

5. W32/ElKern-C (Elkern variant) 2.9%

5. W32/Yaha-E (Yaha variant) 2.9%

5. W32/Yaha-K (Yaha variant) 2.9%

8. JS/NoClose (NoClose worm) 2.1%

9. W32/Flcss (FunLove) 1.9%

10. Dial/Datemake-A (Datemake dialer) 1.6%

Others 60.5%

Central Command's Dirty Dozen for April:

1. Worm/Klez.E (includes G) 18.7%

2. W32/Yaha.E 8.9%

3. Worm/Yaha.M 7.5%

4. Worm/Sobig.A 6.1%

5. Worm/Lovegate.F 5.4%

6. Worm/Sircam.A 5.0%

7. W32/Funlove 3.4%

8. W32/Nimda 2.8%

9. W32/Elkern 2.7%

10. Worm/Bugbear 2.5%

11. Worm/Ganda 1.8%

12. Worm/Yaha.L 1.6%

Others 33.6%

Trend Micro's list of the top 10 viruses for 30 days ending May 5:

1. WORM_LOVEGATE.F

2. PE FUNLOVE.4099

3. PE ELKERN.D

4. PE NIMDA.A-O

5. WORM KLEZ.H

6.JS NOCLOSE.E

7. WORM_OPASERV.A

8. PE PARITE.A

9. WORM_DEBORM.Q

10. HTML_IFRMEXP.GEN

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

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