The last eight weeks have been among the busiest the antivirus community has ever experienced. Between them MyDoom, Netsky and Bagle have eclipsed the volume of virus activity we saw in the whole of 2003.

But what has started this sudden virus avalanche?

At the last count there were eight versions of MyDoom, 14 versions of Netsky and 16 versions of Bagle in existence. Although it's not uncommon to see a large number of variants appear after an initial outbreak, it is unheard of for so many to appear in such a short time.

Initial thoughts are that the growing number of virus creation kits currently available on the internet could be accounting for this rush of variants. These automated kits allow computer users with few technical skills to alter the code of viruses and release new variants into the wild.

By Jack Clark at vnunet.

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