Viruses decline as spam rate continues to climb

There has been a slight reduction in the rate of virus infected emails circulating during November, according to the latest statistics from hosting company IE Internet. The decline in virus infections to 16.51% last month follows a month of record-level infections occurring during October. The Mytob worm was once again the most dominant virus last month with variants of the worm collectively responsible for over a 1/4 a all virus infections. Sober.Z, a new mass-mailing worm, was contained in over 15% of all infected emails. Other viruses detected by IE Internet's filters last month include Zafi.D and Netsky.P which were collectively responsible for over 1/5 of all infections.

Commenting on the statistics, Ken O'Driscoll, IE Internet's Technical Manager said "Sober.Z only appeared mid-November and it has already made its way into the top five. This could be one to keep an eye on, it has the makings of new epidemic."

IE Internet’s statistics also reveal an increase in the volume of spam delivered to Irish email users last month. Spam accounted for 37.83% of emails delivered in October while this increased to over 41.99% for November. 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. China and Korea 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: 16.51%
Top 5 most prevalent Viruses:
1. W32/Mytob.DY@mm - 17.54%
2. W32/Sober.Z@mm - 15.72%
3. W32/Netsky.P@mm - 11.97%
4. W32/Zafi.D@mm - 8.93%
5. W32/Mytob.FK@mm - 8.24%

Spam Statistics
Rate of Spam: 41.99%
Main Sources of Spam:
1. United States - 43.56%
2. China - 6.67%
3. Korea, Republic of - 6.48%
4. Europe - 5.09%
5. Australia - 4.09%
6. United Kingdom - 3.45%


For further information, please contact:
Orlaith Finnegan, Communications Officer, IE Internet: +353 1 283 3333 / +353 86 1615694
orlaith.finnegan@ieinternet.com