eScan, one of the leading providers of information security solutions for desktops and servers, has conducted in-depth research, and come up with a comprehensive report based on malware URLs collected for the first half of the year 2011.
The complexity and growth of malware has more than just tripled in the last six months. What eScan has witnessed, and will be witnessing, is a change in the threat landscape. Clever new ways have cropped up to compromise new devices of which fake anti-virus is on the rise, and password-stealing malware is showing a sudden surge in activity. Their ability to adapt to avoid detection is one aspect that needs to be taken into consideration.
Moreover, the growing complexity in malware shows that cyber criminals are posing challenges to security vendors. The ever-growing functionality of the World Wide Web has put users at greater risk, as the ease of gaining users' personal information, credit card and bank account numbers has greatly increased.
The last couple of years have seen a surge in malware threats, and it has now turned into a profitable business for cyber criminals, and has formed into highly organised, profit-motivated crime rings.
According to the report, almost 80% of content available on the Web is malicious. SEO poisoning has risen to such an extent that the chances of clicking an infected link has significantly increased in the last year, says the report by eScan lab.
The report provides comprehensive details on the top 10 malware threats, malware URL count (hosted countries), malware count by extension, malware count (month-wise), malware count (day-wise), and domain-wise malware hosting.
The report highlights the malware threats that dominated in the last six months, thereby becoming a huge threat to IT infrastructure. It clearly specifies on the social networking sites, which have been used as a platform to spread malware, and the merging of the Zeus source code with the SpyEye botnet, which brought in a new breed of threats that affected most banking and online transactions.
Social networks are, and still will be, a focal point for hackers as far as targeted attacks are concerned. What makes hackers favour social networks is the access to information, along with the intertwined services (such as Facebook) that come with their respective applications, which make for a more effective approach to attacks - be it on individuals or organisations.
In addition, to further help in the distribution of malware, location-based services and URL-shortening services will be used to a much larger extent. It has also been detected that the SpyEye botnet is capable of thriving on over 150 modules - such as USB drives, instant messengers and various other browser certificates.
Mornay Viljoen, MD, eScan South Africa, said: “The good news for all eScan users is that eScan detects all known variants of malware and findings from this report, and we will continue improving the product to ensure the best possible protection to safeguard all our customers' valuable information.”
Trojans have always been categorised as the highest as far as malware is concerned. The main reason behind their popularity is mainly because they allow hackers remote access to a target computer. Once installed, the Trojan allows the hacker to perform various operations.
Disclaimer:
The above report is based on malware URLs collected between 1 January 2011 and 31 June 2011, and is a representation of the growth in malware-infected URLs in the span of six months. The domains mentioned were found infected at the time of report creation. However, the domain/site/URL might be safe now, as the host may have removed the infection. MicroWorld Technologies is not liable to any party for any direct, indirect, special or other consequential damages caused.
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