The Homepage bug topped the virus hitlist compiled by Sophos for the month of May. The virus accounted for over a third of all virus cases in May. The Magistr virus, which claimed the top spot in April slipped into second place.
The Manella virus was a new entrant in the top ten. The bug is reportedly named after the Sri Lankan town it originated from. Similar to other e-mail viruses, Manella is unleashed by clicking on an attachment, and then sends itself to all the contacts in a user’s Outlook contact book.
Other viruses in the chart included Badtrans, Kakworm, Marker, Bymer and FunLove.
“The Magistr virus also sends out ‘clean’ copies of itself. So when people get an unexpected attachment, they’re wasting their time by being scared, there’s nothing to be scared about,” Eric Chien, chief researcher, Symantec, told Silicon.com.
