Last month’s Bugbear-B worm was the most pernicious virus in the first half of 2003. Security firm Sophos received reports about 3,855 new viruses, a 17.5% increase compared to the same period last year, the firm said. Bugbear-B, which morphs its contents and can turn off some firewalls and anti-virus software, accounted for 12% of the reports the company received. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said all 10 viruses were executable Windows 32 viruses spread via e-mail. “Companies can protect themselves by blocking executable code at the e-mail gateway. These viruses should not have had anything like the impact they did,” he said. Full Story