Computer Viruses Counted to Record Level in August 2008

According to Network Box, a computer security firm, the number of active viruses attacked computer systems this summer (2008) hit record levels, and August 2008 witnessed the highest number of active viruses as well as the worst crime on the Internet, with threats escalating by 51%, as reported by SC MAGAZINE on September 22, 2008.

A virus is a malware that can replicate itself to an indefinite number of copies. Also, it attaches itself to other software such a virus corrupts. It damages or changes data as well as slows down the target system's performance by using resources like disk space or memory.

Network Box further reported that the firm's August 2008 alert status remained at 4 active out of 5 computer viruses, suggesting that the threat status was "critical" throughout the month.

Moreover, as per the researchers, activities of computer viruses peaked on August 23, 2008, with over 14,600 new viruses detected on that single day together with 1,080,899 threat signatures as well as 1,374,666 spam signatures running on the company's database.

Security Researchers at Network Box also disclosed that the big threat in September was expected to come from worm and Trojan activity. There was a considerable rise in trojans throughout early September 2008, with a peak of 65 viruses detected on September 12, 2008.

According to Simon Heron, Internet Security Analyst at Network Box, the company expects a slight growth in Internet crime every month, but August 2008 was the single greatest leap in cyber criminal activity observed by Network Box, as reported by SCMagazine on September 22, 2008.

Heron further added that it was possible that cyber-criminals attacks increasing during the summer time as they hoped to capitalize the most on people leaving for holiday trips and IT managers and specialized staff also remaining away.

Also, according to another study by Kingsoft, during January-June 2008, the company intercepted 1.24 Million new trojans and viruses. This number rose 338% against the overall number in 2007, and it also surpassed the total number of viruses during the last five years. Moreover, 6 among the Top Ten malware during January-June 2008 were downloader viruses.

Related article: Computer Virus Writers Adopt New Strategy

» SPAMfighter News - 10/4/2008