Virus Outburst Propelled Phishing Attacks During Recession

According to Network Box, the security vendor, more than 50% of phishing attacks are due to computer viruses and these are steadily increasing as the recession continues. The rate represents the highest proportion of malware till date in 2009, a rise from 33% during February 2009.

Furthermore, the U.S. has regained the status of the topmost malware generating country, although not up to the levels it was maintaining prior to the closure of the spam hosting company, McColo. However, the rate is significantly higher than that at the start of 2009.

Network Box revealed that U.S. relayed more than 21% of the global viruses during March 2009. Other countries that come after U.S., as significant producers of viruses, are Korea (10.93%), China (5.4%), Australia (4.7%), Turkey (3.94%) and Ukraine being the last with 2.49% virus relayed.

The company also announced the ten most prevalent trojans in March 2009. These are trojan-spy.html.fraud.gen, clm.email.trojan-73, trojan-spy.win32.zbot.pfo, trojan-spy.win32.zbot.oqr, trojan-downloader.win32.injecter.ga, etc. trojan.win32.buzus.anqt appears at the tenth spot.

Meanwhile, Internet Security Analyst Simon Heron, at Network Box, thinks that the prevailing situation of the global economic slowdown is responsible for the current outbreak of virus. SCMagazine reported this on April 1, 2009.

Explaining in detail the connection between the economic situation and virus outbreaks, Heron said an impoverished economy means there would be more disappointed employees, more individuals who are desperate to earn money, as the technological advancements have yielded greater opportunities. Thus, the unemployed but tech-savvy people could begin creating viruses to earn an income for survival.

However, Heron is certain that measures of common sense could be enough for an organization to remain protected. Some simple guidelines that organizations could follow are never to dispatch unencrypted financial data and to educate employees about keeping themselves free from phishing scams. Network Box published this on March 31, 2009.

Besides this, the security vendor also declared the first ten countries that pushed out the maximum spam during March 2009. Once again U.S. led the batch, with countries that followed being Australia, Brazil, China and Turkey. Interestingly, India has also made to the top ten list of spam producing countries, occupying the 10th spot.

Related article: Virus Infects Through USB Drives

» SPAMfighter News - 4/9/2009