Number of New Daily Malware Pieces Soaring High

Recently, security firm McAfee, released its Threat Report for the third quarter of 2010. According to the report, new malware incidences have been rising at a stupendous rate with over 14 Million unique pieces of malware identified in 2010. This figure is 1 Million more than the 2009 statistics.

According to the statistics, the daily malware growth has averaged at 60,000 new samples, which is the maximum value ever registered.

On further comparison with the 2007 statistics, it was found that on an average over 16,000 new malware pieces were regularly recorded; in 2008 the figure crossed the level of 29,000 per day. In 2009, the daily detections increased to 46,000, and in 2010 it has crossed an alarming level of 60,000 new detections per day.

During Q3- 2010, the top 10 malware across the globe witnessed a mix of many well-known standards, largely in the form of password-stealing Trojans, AutoRun malware, and bogus AV software. Adware and potentially unwanted programs were also on the list. Two important exploits were Exploit-CVE2008-5353 and Exploit-ByteVerify. Both of these exploits are linked to the Java flaws (though in extremely different manners) and are usually encountered through malicious websites.

The password stealers (PWS) were the favorite option of cybercriminals as they offer numerous techniques for making money. Login credentials, banking details, and other information hacked by them can be abused either directly or indirectly by selling on the underground market.

Further, as per the report, botnets, remains to be a major threat to all the corporate networks. According to the security firm, Cutwail malware based botnets launched over 300 DoS attacks against eminent targets, including law-enforcement agencies like, the US Central Intelligence Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Commenting on the issue, Mike Gallagher, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Global Threat Intelligence at McAfee stated that, cybercrooks are well versed with all the latest trends, and are aware of what's safe, and what's unsafe, as reported by The Softpedia on November 17, 2010.

Majority of the malware in the global top 10 promotes cybercrime, which presents a mainly profit based threat scenario. Hence, netizens should be more alert and cautious and follow safe web surfing habits.

Related article: Number of Spam Laden with Viruses Spike in H2 2009

» SPAMfighter News - 11/26/2010