Symantec's Top 10 Malcious Threats For July 2003

SYMANTEC'S TOP 10 MALCIOUS THREATS FOR JULY 2003

Symantec, the world leader in Internet Security, releases monthly intelligence reports which list in order of severity, the most malicious threats in Asia Pacific:

+ GLOBAL TOP TEN VIRUS THREATS ASIA PACIFIC TOP TEN VIRUS THREATS

1 W32.Bugbear.B@mm VBS.Redlof.A
2. W32.Klez.H@mm W32.Klez.H@mm
3. HTML.Redlof.A W32.Bugbear@mm
4. W32.Sobig.E@mm W32.Bugbear.B@mm
5. W95.Hybris.worm W32.Opaserv.Worm
6. JS.Fortnight.C W95.Hybris.worm
7. W32.Nolor@mm W95.Spaces.1445
8. W32.Pinfi W32.Datom.Worm
9. W32.Nimda.E@mm W32.FunLove.4099
10. W32.HLLW.Fizzer@mm W95.Spaces.1445

David Banes, Regional Manager Symantec Security Response, Asia Pacific, analysis of the July data: VBS. Redlof.A, a threat that does not receive much attention, ranks at the number one position of Asia Pacific's list this month and at number three on the worldwide list. It is a polymorphic, encrypted Visual Basic Script virus that infects .html, .htm, .asp, .php, .jsp, and .vbs files on all disk drives.

An interesting feature of this worm, is that it doesn't perform in the same way that a lot of other worms do such as Bugbear, which mass mail themselves to the users entire address book. Rather it waits for the infected user to send an email and inserts itself into that email. Sobig, which ranked at number 3 on our list in June, is no longer featuring in the Asia Pacific top ten list, but is still ranked at number 4 on the worldwide list.

Consumers can visit Symantec's Security Check to find out if there systems still have these threats on their PCs at: www.symantec.com/securitycheck http://www.symantec.com/securitycheck/.

Internet users need to update their antivirus definitions to ensure that they are protected from these threats. It is also recommended that users update their operating systems and application programs to the current version to ensure a high level of protection.

For further information regarding these threats, please visit the Symantec Security Response: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/

About Symantec

Symantec, the world leader in Internet security technology, provides a broad range of content and network security software and appliance solutions to individuals, enterprises and service providers. The company is a leading provider of client, gateway and server security solutions for virus protection, firewall and virtual private network, vulnerability management, intrusion detection, Internet content and e-mail filtering, remote management technologies and security services to enterprises and service providers around the world. Symantec's Norton brand of consumer security products is a leader in worldwide retail sales and industry awards. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has worldwide operations in 36 countries. For more information, please visit www.symantec.com

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