Wave of viruses, worms sweep cyberspace

A wave of new computer worms and viruses has been sweeping cyberspace over the past few days, wreaking havoc on some systems and testing the software defences of networks, an anti-virus company said yesterday. California-based Panda Software said the spread of viruses and the variants "has reached epidemic proportions worldwide". In the wake of the MyDoom outbreak, described as the worst in internet history, Panda said there are several versions of the Netsky virus and the Bagle worm spreading quickly.

"They are all spreading at an alarming rate and causing an increasing number of incidents around the globe," Panda said. "According to the data collated by PandaLabs, there are now millions of infected emails in circulation."

This epidemic "is particularly worrying for companies, as all the viruses propagate aggressively, meaning that they can rapidly collapse corporate networks," Panda said in a statement. "At present some 95 per cent of infected computers belong to companies."

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