Top ten Internet viruses and threats, cybercrime
For the ninth month running, Sdbot.ftp was the malware most frequently detected by the free online antivirus solution, Panda ActiveScan (http://www.activescan.com), in the computers around the world. Similarly, there has been a significant number of detections of Netsky.P, one of the oldest examples of malware in the ranking. Metafile secured third place in the ranking, demonstrating the active exploitation of the vulnerability in the processing of WMF files. Meanwhile, Tearec.A remains in fourth place, after the commotion caused last month by its coded activation on the third of every month.
During February, Sdbot.ftp was responsible for 2.48 percent of infections. Then came the veteran Netsky.P (1.28%), followed by other more recent threats such as Metafile (1.24%), Tearec.A (0.95%), Sober.AH (0.85%) and Bagle.GS (0.84%). Finally, with less significant frequency rates, came Qhost.gen, Gaobot.gen; Alcan.A and Parite.B.
Malware % frequency
W32/Sdbot.ftp 2.48
W32/Netsky.P.worm 1.28
Exploit/Metafile 1.24
W32/Tearec.A.worm!CME-24 0.95
W32/Sober.AH.worm!CME-681 0.85
W32/Bagle.GS.worm!CME-328 0.84
Trj/Qhost.gen 0.67
W32/Gaobot.gen.worm 0.65
W32/Alcan.A.worm 0.61
W32/Parite.B 0.56The continuing rising trend of worms is of particular significance in this month’s Top Ten. While in December, six out of ten of the threats most frequently detected by Panda ActiveScan were worms, this rose to seven in January and now, in February, composes eight out of ten threats detected. A clear example of the success of worms is Tearec.A (CME-24), also known as Kama Sutra, which spreads widely using social engineering techniques — in this case, the lure of e-mails with erotic content.