10 million infections in Q2 2005

A virus roundup reported by Trend Micro says that Q2 2005 registered over 10 million infections as compared to over 8 million in the first quarter of the year. Q1 2005 was dominated by Bagle variants, which are known for using different strategies for propagation and infecting machines.

In Q2, HTML_NETSKY.P caused the most infections, reaching 2,65,814. On May 2, 2005, Trend Micro raised WORM_SOBER.S to a Yellow Alert, being the first alert of the quarter. It propagates via e-mail, posing as a notification about free tickets for the FIFA World Cup.

With the advent of mobile phones running on complex operating systems (EPOC/Symbian), virus writers have another open window for malice.

The second quarter of 2005 saw the re-emergence of WORM_MYTOB variants from dormancy. Employing new social engineering techniques, MYTOB took centre-stage with more crafty and concise e-mail attachments. This bot worm raised four alerts from May 9, 2005 to June 3, 2005. Hyped as the ‘super bot,’ MYTOB goes beyond the usual propagation technique of using network shares. Further, controversy surrounds the availability of the source code of MYTOB; it may be exploited for financial gain.