Virus Top 10: Klez still clinging on

But good showing by two newbies...

The persistent Klez worm has topped the virus top 10 for the fifth month running. The latest statistics from Sophos Anti-Virus show that the Klez-H worm has infected thousands of computer systems worldwide over the past month despite being originally discovered last October. The worm's H variant installs code in order to re-launch itself again, but does not destroy any files. It spreads via email attachments with varying subject lines. The worm has E and G variants, which have more deadly features such as time-activated payloads which trigger the worm on a specific day of each month. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos Anti-Virus said the other virii are gaining a stronger foothold in the list. He said in a statement: "While Klez tops the virus chart again this month, more recent discoveries Frethem and Yaha are close on its heels. Yaha came to prominence as a politically motivated virus, launching a rudimentary denial of service attack on the Pakistan government's website and encouraging Indian hackers and virus writers to join forces and attack Pakistan." 1. W32/Klez-H Klez variant) 17.7 per cent
2. W32/Frethem-Fam 17.0 per cent
3. W32/Yaha-E 16.8 per cent
4. W32/Badtrans-B 5.8 per cent
5. W32/Elkern-C 3.7 per cent
6. W32/Magistr-B 2.5 per cent
7. W32/Hybris-B 1.9 per cent
8. W32/Klez-E 1.7 per cent
9. W32/Nimda-A 1.5 per cent
10. W32/Magistr-A 1.3 per cent
Others: 30.1 per cent