Email viruses reach record levels in December

Email viruses reached record levels in December according to the latest statistics from hosting company IE Internet. The latest data shows that 23.43pc of emails circulating in December contained an attachment with malicious code. The sharp increase in virus levels which reached 16.51% in November is mainly attributable to the proliferation of the Sober.Z mass-mailing worm. In November IE Internet’s statistics showed that Sober.Z was contained in 15.72pc of of all infected email, making it one of the most widespread virus strains in circulation. By the end of December this figure had climbed to 45.2pc of the total, eclipsing all other viruses combined. Other viruses detected by IE Internet's filters last month include Zafi.D, Netsky.P and variants of the Mytob worm.

Commenting on the statistics, Ken O'Driscoll, IE Internet's technical manager said “the higher than usual infection rate can be explained by the fact that many businesses close for several days over the Christmas period, giving viruses a chance to spread widely before being caught by filtering software.”

IE Internet’s statistics also reveal a slight decline in the volume of spam delivered to Irish email users last month. Spam accounted for 38.93% of emails delivered in December from the previous month’s rate of 41.99%. The United States continues to produce the vast majority of spam emails with over 4 in every ten spam emails originating in the United States. Korea and China are also major contributors of spam world-wide with both countries in second and third place behind the United States in terms of overall spam production.

Virus Statistics
Rate of Virus infection: 23.43%
Top 5 most prevalent Viruses:
1. W32/Sober.Z@mm - 45.20%
2. W32/Zafi.D@mm - 9.56%
3. W32/Netsky.P@mm - 7.47%
4. W32/Mytob.DY@mm - 6.93%
5. W32/Mytob.EK@mm - 5.29%

Spam Statistics
Rate of Spam: 38.93%
Main Sources of Spam:
1. United States - 45.28%
2. Korea, Republic of - 6.06%
3. China - 5.34%
4. Europe - 4.38%
5. United Kingdom - 3.96%
6. Australia - 3.79%