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McAfee - 6,000 Malware Items Created Per Day

According to the reports published in business.rediff on August 6, 2009, with malware creators aiming at writing a huge 6,000 fresh samples of malicious programs each day, the rise in malware continues to accelerate.

Internet security company 'McAfee Avert Labs' discloses that it caught and recognized massive 1.5 Million distinct items of malicious software during 2008. Malicious software or malware comprises undesirable software such as PC worms, viruses, spyware and Trojan horses among others, elucidates McAfee.

Prabhat Singh, Senior Director of APAC (Asia Pacific and China) and Japan, McAfee Avert Labs, stated that in H1-2009, there were 140,000 distinct malicious programs that tripled the number of H1-2008, as reported by Business-standard on August 6, 2009.

The Director added that although India did not witness a considerable rise in malware, the subcontinent within the APAC-Japan region demonstrated the highest rate of increase in junk e-mail or spam, accounting for almost 7% of the worldwide junk e-mail.

According to Mr. Singh, computers running counterfeit versions of legacy security programs or operating software are at risk of malware infections since malicious software are getting more and more sophisticated and they often utilize refined evasion techniques to beat standard signatures employed by security software.

Other Internet security specialists at McAfee say that amidst the ongoing period of economic crisis, there is a record hike in malware production as this is the time when cyber criminals find more opportunities to employ them and make money. The specialists say that malware no longer is created for fame or fun i.e., it means business today for Internet criminals who spare no opportunity to use it for reaping monetary gains not just within the United States but also elsewhere on the globe like in APAC-Japan.

Besides spam and malware, McAfee reveals that it detected 30-40% of the total password-stealing trojans during January-June 2009 and found that they focused on virtual worlds and online gaming, exemplifying the high potential of profit from virtual items. More specifically, there is a rising trend of professionalism of spam distribution and malware across the world.

Related article: McAfee Alerts Windows about Accessibility Hole in Vista

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