Panda ActiveScan List of Top Viruses for June 2003

In June the ‘B’ variant of Bugbear topped the ranking of the malicious code most frequently detected by Panda ActiveScan, taking over from Klez.I which headed the Top Ten ranking of viruses detected by the Panda Software’s free online solution almost continuously since it first appeared in April 2002.

The data compiled by Panda ActiveScan shows that Bugbear.B was responsible for a total of nearly 18 percent of total recorded incidents followed by Trj/PSW.Bugbear.B (11.19%), Mapson (6.78%), Klez.I (4.33%) and Bugbear (3,9%). The bottom half of the list includes: Parite.B, Fornight.D, Enerkaz, NoClose and Bugbear.B.Dam.

The most notable development in this month’s ranking is the dominance of the Bugbear family, highlighted by:

* Bugbear.B pushing Klez.I out to fourth place in the ranking. The only other occasion on which the Klez I worm has been ousted since April 2002 was also by the predecessor of Bugbear.
* The high percentage of machines infected by Bugbear.B and PSW.Bugbear.B (17.78 and 11.19), is far greater than the percentages (around 10 percent) that normally correspond to the top places in the list.
* Four of the ten most virulent malicious code belong to the Bugbear family (including -Bugbear.B.Dam, damaged copies of Bugbear.B-).

Other recent developments include the prevalence of Mapson, which first appeared in mid-June, and the absence of Nimda from the list.

Virus % frequency
W32/Bugbear.B 17.78
Trj/PSW.Bugbear.B 11.19
W32/Mapson 6.78
W32/Klez.I 4.33
W32/Bugbear 3.96
W32/Parite.B 2.01
JS/Fortnight.D 1.86
W32/Enerkaz 1.82
Trj/JS.NoClose 1.76
W32/Bugbear.B.Dam 1.69

To help as many users as possible keep their systems virus free, Panda Software offers its free, online antivirus Panda ActiveScan.