The rapid increase in Internet usage in developing nations is creating a fertile ground for the proliferation of malicious software, says World Wide Worx MD, Arthur Goldstuck.
These comments follow the McAfee second quarter 2010 malware report, which says malicious software has reached an all-time high. Goldstuck explains that as online take-up accelerates in the developing world, a greater proportion of inexperienced users are coming online, thereby increasing the proportion of vulnerable systems.
He says new users in emerging economies are often not knowledgeable about guarding against malware, and attacks on them result in a global underground economy of Web-connected computers.
Prior to the McAfee report, security vendor Symantec noted that: “As the computers in the emerging countries are compromised, they are brought into botnets, which are herds of computers that hackers use to attack others or even rent out for a fee to other attackers. Botnets consist of thousands or sometimes millions of computers. Each bot can be rented for as little as 3c.”
In terms of malware attacks, Symantec noted that Russia remained the top attack traffic source, accounting for 12% of observed attack traffic in total. The US and China held second and third place respectively, accounting for nearly 20% of observed attack traffic.
Goldstuck adds that data protection has become more complex, creating vulnerabilities, which malware creators are exploiting. “With anti-virus software alone no longer enough to protect a computer, users are more confused than ever before about what protection is needed.”
He adds that with the vast interconnectedness of browsers, social networks, automated advertising and financial systems, there are numerous gaps in protection systems and weaknesses in user behaviour that can be exploited for commercial gain.
“This naturally attracts a criminal element, which in turn has the effect of increasing the online skills base of criminals,” says Goldstuck.
Bots across borders
Barry Irwin, computer science senior lecturer at Rhodes University, adds that the increase in malware in developing economies is justified, as the trend within cyber crime is to be able to monetise assets in the form of compromised machines.
“We have seen, over the last few years, a marked decrease in destructive malware payloads. Modern malware tries its best to stay hidden in order to fulfil at least one of the two major roles - information and credential thefts - of which the Zeus botnet is probably one of the best examples,” says Irwin
Johann van der Merwe, security advisory competency leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, adds that malicious online activities pose a relatively low risk to criminals as it is hard to track and prosecute them across borders.
“As the relative losses due to online fraud supported by malware are low, the incentive or resources to investigate these incidents is not always there. This is especially true if the victims are individuals and not large corporations. A much more coordinated effort is required between countries to manage the threats rather than to focus on the vulnerabilities,” he says.
“At the moment we are mostly playing a catch-up game and if this status quo continues we are most likely to see malware keep on increasing going forward.”
Prevention key
Van der Merwe adds that while prevention is not always the cure, it's very important for reducing the risk to an acceptable level.
He adds there is a lot individuals can do to protect themselves from increasing risks. These include keeping computer operating systems up to date with the latest security fixes, and to avoid opening arbitrary e-mails or attachments from untrustworthy parties.
In its report, McAfee says among the nastiest and most common types of malware during the second quarter were AutoRun attacks (malware that uses USB or portable storage devices to spread) while fake anti-virus software has leveled off.
The McAfee report adds that: “The top detection continues to be the Generic!atr Trojan, which was reported on nearly 9% of machines scanned worldwide by McAfee”. In South America and Africa, W32/Sality earned a place in the top 10, while on a global scale it occupied the 19th spot, with 1.1% of machines reporting it, McAfee states.
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