Virus-ridden UK spread email nasties

The UK is one of the focal points of world email virus activity - and it is members of the public that are causing the problem.

A report from antivirus service provider MessageLabs found that UK companies received over 25 per cent of all intercepted email viruses in August, second only to the US.

Three per cent of emails monitored contained a potentially harmful payload.

About one in 40 emails to retail and leisure companies were infected, with legal and finance companies getting less than one in 400.

Klez.H is still the most common virus, accounting for over two thirds of all viruses detected.

"The leisure and retail sectors are those with most contact with the general public and as such are most vulnerable," said Mark Sunner, chief technology officer at MessageLabs.

"Klez.H is now very rare among companies but in the last day we've had 20,000 new cases, mainly from Hotmail, Freeserve and AOL domains," he added.

Fewer than half of UK homes own antivirus software, and of those only a minority update it regularly, according to Symantec.

See also:

Microsoft cans Hotmail spam

Brightmail can identify and delete junk mail  19 Sep 2002

Personal junk mail worse than spam

New survey says joke emails from friends foul up networks  10 Sep 2002

Klez clings on to virus top spot

Veteran worms still inflicting damage  03 Sep 2002

Reported DDoS attacks double

High-profile websites affected  22 Aug 2002

Viruses don't break the bank

HBoS deploys multi-vendor antivirus strategy  15 Aug 2002

Top 20 viruses for July

Virus writers take a summer break  06 Aug 2002

Hotmail all spammed up

Service admits 80 per cent of its mail is junk  05 Aug 2002

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