Risk: Informational
According to figures gathered by security firm Symantec, there were 33 serious virus outbreaks in 2004. These are incidents measured by the number of people a virus infects or the severity of the damage they inflict. In 2005, there were only six such incidents.
However, instead of deploying mass mailings to infect people through their inbox, virus creators are now writing more versions of malicious programs than ever before.
Original extract:Year-end statistics from Finnish anti-virus firm F-Secure show that there were 50% fewer virus outbreaks in 2005 but the number of malicious programs has grown by, on average, 40% for the last two years.
Similarly, Sophos reported that it found 1,940 new malicious programs in November 2005, the largest increase since records began.
Evidence for this rash of variants can be found in the list of the top 20 viruses for 2005 compiled by Kaspersky labs, in which the MyTob virus fills nine places.
This explosion in variants is partly driven by a desire to overwhelm anti-virus firms. With defences spread thinly, hackers believe they will have more time for their particular creation to infect machines.
The malicious hackers are also keen to replenish the ranks of the viruses circulating online as fixes are found for previous versions.
To read the full article, visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4521844.stm