Unclean can’t unclog Klez

Australian businesses continue to put themselves at risk because they do not update their systems. Protection against the Klez virus has been widely available since February, but anti virus software vendor Sophos claims the virus is still causing problems because businesses do not update their protection.

Announcing the top 10 virus problems the company is receiving, they found the Klez virus to be number one, with 17 per cent of reported problems being the Klez-H virus. Only two new viruses have appeared and JS/NoClose made a re-entry in August. Nine existing viruses causing problems despite widely available protection is a sad figure for Australia.

”Only two viruses in August’s top ten are brand new entries. Instead, the chart is full of old stalwarts such as Klez-H, Badtrans-B, Sircam and Nimda,” said Stuart Palmer, managing director at Sophos Anti-Virus Australia and New Zealand. “Klez-H and its nasty companion ElKern-C, have accounted for almost a quarter of enquiries to Sophos’s global support centres this month. With protection for these viruses available since February 2002, it is evident that businesses are putting themselves at risk by not updating their anti-virus software.”

Hoaxes continued to cause problems for Australian business with the Budweiser frogs screen saver still in the top 10.