Worms majority of top ten threats says BitDefender

BitDefender has announced its September’s top ten security threats list. According to BitDefender Labs, these threats represented 64 per cent of all malware detected in September 2007, and the company advises computer users to take extra care in avoiding them.

The top ten threats are win32.worm.p2p.puce.g (11.1%), worm.rjump.k (10.3%), win32.worm.autoruner.cd (8.4%), win32.netsky.p@mm (6.3%), win32.worm.ice.a (6.1%, win32.worm.rjump.b (5.2%), worm.vbs.solow.a (4.8%), win32.worm.vb.ymeak.a (4.4%), win32.worm.sohanat.as (3.9%) and worm.rjump.j (3.5%).

In particular, BitDefender warns users to look out for the Autoruner.cd worm, which it predicts will be the most potent new threat in October. Listed as threat number three, the Autoruner.cd worm spreads by creating copies of itself to every disk and creating an "autorun.inf" file pointing to the copy. Once installed, this worm attempts to disable various kinds of security software and to download and run yet another piece of malware. The company points out that fortunately, the download location has now been brought offline.

Another notable threat includes the Solow worm, coming in at threat number seven. A throwback to the ancient days of virus writing, the Solow worm copies itself onto every drive that it can find by adding itself as an autorun entry so that it gets executed when the disc is first accessed.

A new entry at threat number five is Ice.a worm. A complex worm sporting a file-infector component and a downloader, it downloads and executes a file from a given URL.

Commenting on this month’s top ten lists, Viorel Canja, Head of Antivirus Labs, BitDefender, said: "Malware writers have discovered that discretion is the better part of valor and strive to produce stealthy custom viruses that will do what's required of them and nothing more. This tactic allows viruses to avoid early detection by antivirus software and makes them far more of a security threat because they can go undetected for longer periods of time."