NetXactics, local Sophos distributor, a world leader in protecting businesses against spam and viruses, has revealed the top ten viruses and hoaxes causing problems for businesses around the world.
The report, which examines virus and hoax reports in the month of April 2004, shows four new viruses have entered the chart, with Netsky variants taking seven places.
"Several Netsky strains continued to cause serious difficulties for unprotected computer users throughout the month of April. With the author of the original Netsky worm claiming to have shared the viral code, it`s possible that copycats might be getting their paws dirty by sending out new Netsky variants," said Brett Myroff, CEO of NetXactics. "Although this flurry of virus activity sounds like a nightmare, with automatically updated anti-virus protection at the gateway and on the desktop, these nasties can be stopped regardless of how they try to infiltrate the network. Not only does this protect individual computers, but it also helps slow down the rate of infection, which is good for all of us."
Sophos analysed and protected against 740 new viruses in April. The total number of viruses Sophos now protects against is 89 852.
"A new entry to the hoax chart this month is the Nigerian letter scam," continued Myroff. "Several versions of this letter exist, all designed to defraud and extort money from email users. On a positive note, one scammer, Peter Okoeguale, was this month sentenced to 20 months in jail by a judge in North Wales after police traced eleven of his victims."
Graphics of the virus top ten chart are available at http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/imggallery/topten/.
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NetXactics is a South African-based company, focused on the provision of security solutions. It is the sole distributor in Sub-Saharan Africa for UK-based Sophos Plc, one of the leaders in the provision of anti-virus and anti-spam software for the corporate environment. For more information, visit NetXactics at www.netxactics.co.za.
Sophos
Sophos is one of the world`s largest specialist developers of anti-virus and anti-spam software. Headquartered in the UK, the company designs solutions specifically to protect businesses and organisations, including large corporations, banks and governments, from viruses and spam.
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