McAfee Predicts Threats that would Haunt 2008

Security Company McAfee has detected over 100,000 new trojans and viruses in 2007 and predicts that online threats from such malware will continue to grow.

Chief Security Analyst Mark Sunner at MessageLabs said that 2007 had several incidences of fruitful cyber crime that made some criminal gangs notoriously famous in the computer security industry. BCS News published this in November 20, 2007.

McAfee has also predicted that the Storm worm would be the next biggest security threat to haunt 2008. The company attributes the success of this malware to its constant ability to change codes permanently that makes blockage and removal very hard for security mechanisms.

Another threat that relates to the emergence of attacks via MSN Messenger is the 'flash' worm. This type of worm that has been spreading widely through instant messages has been kept out of treatment for several years, and although Threat Research Manager Craig Schmugar of McAfee Avert Labs said that the threat may not actually happen in 2008, there would be more of its ingredients coming together in that year. SDAINDIA published this on November 20, 2007.

Albeit IM-based malware have been present for years, McAfee researchers said that they have not yet seen a threat like the flash worm that executes on its own. Researchers since long have been warning of the dangers of such a self-executing IM worm that could infect millions of computer users and move across the globe within a few seconds, the report notes. ITWEB published this on November 21, 2007.

Another highlight of the study is that the National Vulnerability Database of United States has reported a doubling of YIM, AIM and MSN Messenger flaws in 2007 over 2006.

2007 has also witnessed ten high-severity threats while 2006 had none. In addition, the top virus threats on the IM in 2005 and 2006 became subservient to new threats.

Further in the report, Skype with one third of a billion users encountered worms for the first time in 2007 and it expects to have many more.

The other top security threats for 2008, according to McAfee, would be Web 2.0, Vista operating system and VoIP-based attacks.

Related article: McAfee Alerts Windows about Accessibility Hole in Vista

» SPAMfighter News - 12/5/2007