Kaspersky talks threat evolution

Johannesburg, 04 Mar 2009

Kaspersky Lab has published its annual report on threat evolution. The report found that the company's security network detected over 23 million attacks, all of which were successfully combated.

The company's malware experts predict that a malware ecosystem is evolving, with labour being divided between the cyber-criminals who place orders, and those who fulfil the orders. “The vast majority of malicious programs are created not by virus writers who intend to use the programs, but with the intention of selling them on for use by others,” the company says.

According to Kaspersky, different countries also display distinctive characteristics. For example, while China was the top creator of malicious programs last year, Russian hackers and virus writers created the most sophisticated programs.

“Attacks on Web sites continued in 2008, including attacks on social networking sites. There was a sharp increase in the number of attacks on online gaming accounts,” says Kaspersky.

Functionality was added to file viruses, the company adds, giving them the ability to spread via removable storage media, resulting in mass infections. In addition, a growing area of concern is the spread of rootkits. “New methods for conducting attacks were also identified, including the use of botnets.”

On the positive side, Kaspersky says the anti-virus industry, Internet providers and governments around the world struck a series of blows against cyber-crime, resulting in the closure of a number of companies that allowed cyber-criminals to use their resources. This included the Russian Business Network.

Talking spam, the company said there was a marginal increase in the worldwide volume of spam, up 2.1% from 2007. “The average volume of spam was 82.1%. Russia was the world leader in terms of spam sent out, with 22% of unsolicited messages originating from Russian sources.”

Kaspersky experts predict that the malware ecosystem will continue to evolve; malware technologies will become more sophisticated; and there will be a growth in threats such as botnets, which have flexible administration. The global economic situation and the maturity of the cyber-crime market may lead to a return of global malware epidemics.