Bugbear continues to reign supreme at the top of Sophos’ virus chart as it accounted for 29.4% of all reported incidents of infection during November. The virus, which allows hackers to monitor users’ keystrokes, has now spent two months as the most virulent computer virus in cyberspace having knocked Klez off the top spot back in October.
According to Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos Anti-Virus, Bugbear has been so successful due to its duel attack capabilities, which allow it to spread by both e-mails and shared networks.
“Bugbear dominates the chart for the second month as it continues to out-fox users with its dual mode of attack — this worm can spread via email and network shares,” he says.
“It’s important that all users ensure they are protected against Bugbear because it implants code that can log victims’ keystrokes. This means hackers have a perfect view of everything you type [and] this could include passwords, bank account details and credit card numbers,” he adds.
Second in the virus chart was the Braid worm. Although it only mustered a paltry 8.5% of reported infections, this was enough to shunt the ever-present Klez virus back into third spot.
