Virus Circulation via E-mails on a Rise, Says Network Box

A managed security firm Network Box has revealed that the number of viruses sent through e-mails has surged by 300% during May-July 2009. After analyzing Internet threats in July 2009, the firm reported that the number of viruses is at its peak level so far in the current year - as high as nearly 12 viruses per user per hour.

Interestingly, India has been generating an increasing number these viruses (5.2%) and is the fourth leading source of Internet threats; the US (16.59%), Brazil (14.11%) and Korea (6.2%) being the top three countries. It is particularly striking as for the first time India has been reported of originating such a substantial proportion of Internet threats.

However, Simon Heron, Internet Security Analyst, Network Box, said that it was not at all surprising for India to emerge as one of the major sources of Internet threats, reported merinews on July 29, 2009.

Heron further added that with its growing IT industry, India is at present a major economic strength in the world. Moreover, middle class population, with significant disposable income, is surging in the country. This suggests an increasing computer and bandwidth take-ups. Nevertheless, it is quite a tough task to regulate the economy. As a result, there is significant number of illicit operating software, which are not patched or updated. Thus, they become easily infected and emerge as malware sources, he added.

Network Box also noted that however the US is still the major source of Internet threats (16.59%), but it has considerably reduced from the level of 21% in June 2009. Moreover, in terms of spam generation, the country has declined to the level of 10.2% in July 2009 from 11.2% in June 2009. Brazil has outranked the US to become the leading spam generator in the world, producing over 12.6% of the total spam.

Heron stated that the biggest reason for a declining contribution of attacks from the US is the surge in attacks emancipating from other nations, especially Brazil, Korea, China and India.

Giving a sigh of relief, another security firm Symantec has reported that malware authors have not been developing any new malware in past several months. Though, the news that spammers are much more active with new attack techniques has tainted the former news.

Related article: Virus Infects Through USB Drives

» SPAMfighter News - 8/12/2009