We were right, says Symantec

By Staff Writer for Symantec

Johannesburg, 21 Aug 2009

Security software company Symantec blocks, on average, more than 245 million attempted malicious code attacks across the globe each month, the vast majority of which are never-seen-before threats delivered via the Web.

The explosion of new malware variants was a key prediction made by the company in December last year, regarding security trends that would emerge in 2009.

The company also made predictions regarding the impact of the economic crises on security trends, the popularity of social networks amongst phishers, as well predictions regarding increased spam levels and advanced Web threats. Symantec has analysed its predictions in a 2009 mid-year update.

Discussing the emergence of malware variants, the company says new strains of malware consist of thousands of distinct threats that come from known, unique families through a variety of methods such as file-sharing, e-mail and removable media. This creates the potential for an unlimited number of unique malware instances. To combat the emerging threat, complementary detection methods such as heuristics, behavior blocking and reputation-based security models are needed, advises Symantec.

The security giant predicted last year that the global economic crises would result in variations of malware that would target classifieds and job boards in fictitious 'work at home' schemes. This year has seen cyber criminals prey on people who have had homes foreclosed or are seeking refinancing. In addition, a number of scams exploiting the US economic stimulus package have also occurred.

Social networking sites remain a popular target for phishers, following the company's prediction. To illustrate, it refers to a recent and well-publicised set of attacks on a popular social networking site, in which phishers took one compromised user account and used it as a launch pad for targeting that user's friends.

Symantec predicted that spam levels would rise back to approximately 75% to 80%. In June, spam averaged 90% of all e-mail messages. Recent current events used by spammers have included the recent passing of Michael Jackson, the H1N1 flu outbreak and the Italian earthquake.

Also predicted was the evolution of Web-based security threats. Web-based attacks are launched against users who visit legitimate Web sites that have been compromised by attackers in order to redirect users to sites that serve malicious content. One form of infection is drive-by downloads, which allow malicious content to be downloaded onto a user's computer without their knowledge or permission.

A positive security trend for 2009 that was not predicted is the emergence of industry cooperation, states Symantec. In February, the formation of the Conficker Working Group, comprised of technology industry leaders and academia, was announced, in an effort to implement a coordinated, global response to the Conficker worm.