Net's top malware targets Vista

SECURITY GEEZERS AT SOPHOS have tested out November's Dodgiest Malware on Vista and discovered the three biggest buggers are functional on Vista.

Stratio-Zip, the name of a particularly nasty worm, has overtaken Netsky-P as the most heavily circulated piece of malware, said Sophos. Stratio is perfectly capable of bypassing Vista's security and infecting PCs, apparently. Netsky-D and MyDoom-O are also Vista resistant, it would seem.

Put together, the malware capable of screwing over Vista accounts for just under 40 per cent of all the malware doing the rounds. The built in e-mail client on Vista was able to detect that mails with the malware in were a threat to computers, however, the programs wriggled their way onto PCs if accessed by a third-party e-mail client.

Security consultant at Sophos, Carole Theriault is skeptical of Vista, saying in a release that "there has been much speculation about whether Vista would render existing malware extinct, and the news is now in - it won't." Carole congratulated Microsoft for massive leaps in terms of security, however, users should probably remain vigilant. Sophos' November top ten list of malware:

1. Stratio-Zip 33.3%
2. Netsky-P 15.6%
3. Bagle-Zip 6.1%
4. Zafi-B 4.3%
5. Netsky-D 3.9%
6. MyDoom-O 2.5%
7. Nyxem-D 2.5%
8. Mytob-C 2.4%
9. Sality-AA 1.8%
10. Zafi-D 1.7%
Others 25.9%

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