Threats and PUPs

McAfee's AVERT has announced the most commonly-reported malicious threats and Potentially Unwanted Programmes (PUPs) affecting enterprises and consumers in the first quarter of 2005.

The top malicious threats in Q1 are listed alphabetically and identified by the AVERT name schema: Exploit-ByteVerify, Exploit-HelpZonePass, Exploit-MhtRedir, JS/Noclose, StartPage, VBS/Psyme, W32/Mytob and W32/Sdbot (family including sdbot, gaobot, polybot and spybot). In addition, AVERT also notes that mass-mailers, including those from the Bagle, Netsky and Mydoom families, are widely reported.

The following, while not malicious, are the most commonly reported PUPs identified by McAfee technology and reported by customers to AVERT. The following PUPs are listed alphabetically: Adware-BB, Adware-DFC, Adware-Gator, Adware-Rblast, Adware-180 SearchAssist, Adware-Searchcentrix, Downloader-KL, Downloader-UI and IPSentry.