Malware Authors to Concentrate on Adobe in 2010

McAfee, an Internet security company, has predicted that during 2010, cyber criminals will increasingly target Adobe applications, shifting focus from Microsoft Office.

Microsoft has been the common attack point of malware malware for long time. The company dominates the computer market in terms of supplying Operating System, Office suite and Web-browser. Therefore, it isn't unnatural that malware creators aim Microsoft's products and increasingly launching attacks to make maximum benefits.

Nevertheless, Mac OS X is gradually coming into prominence in the operating systems market, while Web-browsers Chrome and Firefox are also witnessing strong demand. Consequently, these software applications are drawing the attention of malware creators. Adobe along with Acrobat Reader and Flash, which has made a wide presence among Web-browsers and operating system environments, is now cyber criminals' target in multiple forms.

As for other predictions, McAfee states that hacking attacks against people using social-networking websites like Facebook and Twitter will grow in power and severity.

According to David Marcus (Director of Security Research and Communications at McAfee Labs), numerous scammers and spammers are likely to transmit bogus requests for Facebook applications to users' accounts, as reported by CNet on December 29, 2009.

McAfee predicts that there will be greater sophistication in banking Trojans. The reason cited: their increased capability of disrupting legitimate transactions as well as making illegal money withdrawals without detection. Moreover, malicious programs sent through e-mail attachments, a popular trick in targeted assaults, will increase too.

Botnets will shift their dependence from command-and-control servers to peer-to-peer architectures, which are known to be largely resilient to takedown efforts.

The report describes 2009 as a year of effective law enforcement. For example, during November 2009, the US Department of Justice prosecuted 9 suspects from Moldova, Estonia and Russia, who allegedly compromised consumer payroll data worth $9 Million at RBS WorldPay. Additionally, Spam King 'Alan Ralsky' was also convicted in 2009.

Marcus comments that good Internet users, getting tired of cyber criminals' exploitation, are finally seen responding more aggressively to shut down of botnets and trying to reverse the Internet for a fairer use.

Related article: Malware Authors Turn More Insidious

» SPAMfighter News - 1/5/2010