Global Co-Operation Important For Combating Spread of Malware Sources

According to the Internet security firm Network Box, although malware volumes continued to be high during October 2009, attacks emanating from the usually large malware-producing countries - China, US, Brazil and Korea - were found lower than their levels in September 2009.

Reportedly, in the US, spam volumes declined 3% in October, making it the No.5 country among the top spam producers. The decline is also significant considering that the country was so far the greatest source of spam worldwide.

Furthermore, the world's most rapidly growing spam threat is now coming from Vietnam, which is at the second spot on the Top Ten List of spam-producing countries, contributing 7.5% to the global junk e-mail. However, the country which continues to be at the No.1 position is Brazil, ahead of Vietnam by just 0.4% in spam generation.

Moreover, Korea and China remain close competitors, being the third highest spam-generating countries, although spam volumes here have declined, with Korea down 1% and China down 2%.

According to the Internet threat analysis by Network Box for October 2009, phishing attacks worldwide declined 8%, from 33.2% in September to 25.2% in October 2009.

Furthermore, Brazil, the US and Korea remain the leading sources of computer viruses; however, there has been a 2% drop in their virus activity from September to October 2009. Meanwhile, India still produces a significant amount of viruses, with 3.7% viruses originating in the sub-continent. Italy and Romania are the new entrants to the Top Ten List of maximum virus-disseminating countries at 2.16% and 1.75% respectively.

State the security experts at Network Box that the levels of viruses and spam unfortunately do not reflect an overall decline, rather malware sources seem to be extending to other countries.

Moreover, according to the company, it is extremely vital to have international co-operation to combat malware producers, particularly if, considering the October's statistics which suggest that malware purveyors are also reaching out to countries that have very little experience of such crime.

Network Box further indicates that it's not just enough for Internet users to remain wary of the web-links they follow inside e-mails, IM and websites for social networking, but they should also be careful about the data they post online.

Related article: Global State of Spam Points to Increased Use of Text

» SPAMfighter News - 11/12/2009