MEDINA, Ohio -- Central Command, a leading provider of PC anti-virus software and computer security services today released its monthly listing of the top twelve viruses reported for January 2003. The report, coined the "Dirty Dozen", is based on the number of virus occurrences confirmed through Central Command's Emergency Virus Response Team.

The table below represents the most prevalent viruses for January 2003, number one being the most frequent.

Ranking Virus Name Percentage

1. Worm/Klez.E (incl. G variant) 27.2%
2. W32/Yaha.E 17.7%
3. Worm/Sobig.A 11.9%
4. Worm/Avril.A 10.8%
5. Worm/Yaha.M2 7.4%
6. Worm/Avril.B 6.0%
7. Worm/Bugbear 2.3%
8. Worm/Sircam.C 1.4%
9. W32/Elkern.C 1.3%
10. W32/Funlove 0.6%
11. W32/Nimda 0.5%
12. Worm/Opasoft 0.4%
Others 12.5%

"If the month of January is any sign of the year to come, we could be in for a very long year. It was definitely be a month to remember as we have never had so many new entries fill our top twelve slots." said Steven Sundermeier product manager at Central Command, Inc. The newcomers to the Dirty Dozen included; Worm/Avril.A, Worm/Avril.B, Worm/Sobig.A, and Worm/Yaha.M2, together they accounted for 36.1% of all total infections. They all utilized the well known vulnerability that allows for an attachment to be automatically executed within the preview pane of Microsoft Outlook.

Central Command Inc.