Sober Is Biggest Worm Attack Of The Year
The Sober worm outbreak that began in earnest Tuesday has been dubbed the world's largest mass-mailed malware attack of 2005 by a Finnish security firm.
"The numbers we're seeing [with Sober] are just huge. This is the largest e-mail worm outbreak of the year so far," wrote Miko Hyppönen, chief research officer of F-Secure, in an online alert.
Meanwhile, Denver-based MX Logic said that Sober was accounting for one in every eight e-mails.
The newest member of the Sober worm clan -- called Sober.x, Sober.y, and Sober.z by various anti-virus vendors -- began spreading Monday and quickly picked up steam Tuesday. Analysts pinned its success on social engineering expertise, technical skill, or a combination of the two.
