Top ten viruses detected by Panda ActiveScan in August

Panda Software, leading antivirus software developer, has just released the list of the most virulent malicious codes active in the month of August. The data was gathered and compiled from Panda ActiveScan, the company''s free online antivirus.

The summer month of August has been comparatively calm in terms of new virus outbreaks. However, this has not prevented already active viruses from wreaking havoc on computer users worldwide, as this summer''s victims will attest.

For the fifth month running, the Klez.I worm has topped the list as the most virulent malicious code in existence, having been detected as the culprit in more than 20 percent of positive cases. Its success is no doubt due to its ability to spread rapidly via e-mail, and to exploit a vulnerability in Microsoft''s Internet Explorer, which allows it to run automatically when viewed in the Preview Pane.

After Klez.I comes another worm, Grade.A, which is responsible for more than 13 percent of cases tracked by Panda ActiveScan. Users should be on their guard for this particularly nasty virus, as it can delete essential system files.

The third notorious suspect making the list was Dadinu, which spreads by sending itself as an e-mail to all contacts in the Microsoft Messenger Address Book. It made an appearance in just over 10 percent of the cases.

Other malicious code detected by Panda ActiveScan in August included VBS/Grade.A (6,23%); the polymorphic Elkern.C (4,89%); Nimda (4,89%); Help (3,79%); Nimda.D (3,30%); and the tenacious Sircam (3.12%), and Magistr.B (2.99%).

Virus % frequency
W32/Klez.I 20.74 %
W32/Grade.A 13.79 %
W32/Dadinu 10.52 %
VBS/Grade.A 10.16 %
W32/Elkern.C 6.23 %
W32/Nimda 4.89 %
VBS/Help 3.79 %
W32/Nimda.D 3.30 %
W32/Sircam 3.12 %
W32/Magistr.B 2.99 %

To help users keep their computers out of the reach of viruses, Panda Software offers Panda ActiveScan, completely free of charge, at (http://www.pandasoftware.com). ActiveScan is also available to webmasters that want to include it on their websites. Administrators can request the HTML code from activescan@pandasoftware.com, indicating the web page on which they want to include it.