MyDoom virus declared worst ever

It's only two days old and still growing, but at least one security firm is ready to crown the MyDoom virus as the worst ever.

Finnish security software and services company F-Secure made the coronation late Wednesday, declaring the MyDoom the fastest-spreading worm ever and "the worst e-mail worm incident in virus history" in a letter research director Mikko Hypponen wrote.

Other security companies had evaluations almost as dire. MessageLabs, which screens e-mail, said it had intercepted more than 3.4 million copies of MyDoom, which infected one 1 of every 12 messages, at its peak. That compares with a total of 33 million infections and a peak rate of 1 in 17 for SoBig.F. MyDoom had already climbed to No. 5 on MessageLabs' list of the all-time most active viruses, surpassing previous annoyances such as SirCam.

F-Secure estimated that the worm was accounting for 20 percent to 30 percent of worldwide e-mail traffic Wednesday, putting it well ahead of previous nasties, such as the SoBig.F worm.