Sober-N accounts for 4.5 percent of all e-mail traffic

The new Sober worm variant is now spreading in 40 countries and accounts for 79.29 percent of all viruses monitored by Sophos monitoring stations around the globe. The anti-virus company calls the new Sober the biggest virus outbreak of the year.

The security firm says Sober-N now accounts for 4.5 percent of all e-mail sent across the internet. The worm causes a lot of problems because it tricks people into believing they have won a free ticket to the World Cup 2006 tournament in Germany.

"One in every 22 emails sent across the internet is currently infected by the Sober-N worm - making this one of the biggest virus outbreaks of the year," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.

"All internet users must secure their systems with up-to-date anti-virus software and ensure that they never open unsolicited email attachments. No-one should be fooled into thinking that email viruses are a thing of the past."

More info about the new Sober-N worm can be found here in the article I wrote yesterday.