India Surpasses U.S. As The Top Most Virus Producer

According to a recent study of Internet threats by Network Box, India surpasses the US as the top most virus producer.

Globally, India alone is accountable for 13.74% of viruses, which was 9.5% in July, 2010. It is followed by Russia, which is at second place in August, 2010. Russia's average rate of viruses on a daily basis increased from 4.01% in July, 2010, to a little bit above 11% in August, 2010.

As a virus producer, the US calculated for a rate over 8% of the entire detected by Network Box, which is considerably lesser than 14.65% in July, 2010. The UK virus levels also came down to 2.5% from 5% in July, 2010. Globally, the UK is now the seventh-largest producer of viruses, which was fourth in July, 2010.

The US retained its position as the world's leader in generating spam, with a daily average of 12.2%. The other two positions were acquired by India ( second) with 7.69% and Brazil ( third) with 5.4%.

Network Box's Internet Security Analyst, Simon Heron stated that, continuous change in such kind of data reflected the adaptability of cybercriminals, as reported by InfoSecurity on 31st Aug, 2010.

He also added that, the country sources of such kind of Internet threats moves every month, which reflected how fast the cybercriminals could shift their operations throughout the world and initiate attacks. Organizations are required to be alert and make sure that they are not attacked by hackers while using new applications and techniques.

It is also being reported by Network Box that the largest amount of firewall blocks stems from the US with 18.3% and Korea with 13%. While commenting on these findings, Simon Heron stated that it was amusing to see that UDP: 137 (NetBIOS' name service) was the second most attacked port. It was absolutely necessary for the organizations to examine their firewall rules, as these data showed that there had to be some system available with this port open to the Internet, as reported by malware Research Group on 31st August, 2010.

He also added that, web proxies were seemed to be worth checking as TCP: 8080 was third on the list, which showed that cybercriminals perceived this as another backdoor entry.

Related article: India Remains an Easy Target for Hackers in '06

» SPAMfighter News - 9/7/2010