Sophos report July's top ten malware and hoaxes

Internet security firm Sophos has revealed July's top 10 email viruses and hoaxes, so if you like weird looking names and odd email subject lines, read on.

The top 10 viruses released into the wild:

1: W32/Netsky-P (19.3%)
2: W32/Mytob-AS (13.9%)
3: W32/Bagle-Zip (9.7%)
4: W32/Nyxem-D (6.3%)
5: W32/MyDoom-O (6.0%)
6: W32/Zafi-B (4.2%)
7: W32/Netsky-D (4.0%)
8: W32/Mytob-C (3.6%)
9: W32/Mytob-FO (1.7%)
-: W32/MyDoom-AJ (1.7%)

The overall proportion of infected email fell to 0.45% (1 in every 222 emails) from an average of 1.1% (1 in 91 emails) in the first six months of this year. This isn't really a cause for celebration, however, as it means that malware authors are looking for other ways of infecting computers and stealing information.

Along with genuine viruses come the hoaxes: the 'well-meaning' emails about non-existent computer viruses or world issues. Some of these have been around for a long time, proof that it's hard to kill of a hoax once it starts:

1: Olympic torch (12.8%)
2: Hotmail hoax (10.6%)
3: Justice for Jamie (4.5%)
4: Bonsai kitten (4.0%)
5: Meninas da Playboy (3.1%)
6: Budweiser frogs screensaver (2.6%)
-: Bill Gates fortune (2.6%)
8: MSN is closing down (2.4%)
9: Mobile phone hoax (2.3%)
10: A virtual card for you (1.9%)

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