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January 2011 had Increase in Malicious PDFs; GFI

GFI Software the security company, cautions that malicious PDF documents circulating online increased considerably during January 2011, with Exploit.AbobeReader.Gen (1.06%) and Exploit.PDF-JS.Gen (0.80%) detected as occupying the 8th and 9th positions respectively on the list of the ten most-prevalent malware threats.

Interestingly, GFI didn't detect any Java exploit for its Top 10 List.

Earlier, beginning from the middle of 2010, Java exploits greatly increased in number and they continue to be drive-by download toolkits' key components. Additionally, it was thought that malicious PDF documents would further drop in number since end-users began using the new Acrobat X (10.0) and Reader of Adobe.

Furthermore, similar to the December 2010 situation, PC Trojans occupied a total of 7 positions within the ten most-prevalent malware threats, with those Trojans contributing a 34% share in the total malware detections made during January 2011. Incidentally, the Trojans were Trojan.Win32.Generic!BT (21.38%), Trojan.Win32.Generic.pak!cobra (3.71%), Trojan-Spy.Win32.Zbot.gen (3.69%), INF.Autorun (v) (1.68%), Trojan.Win32.Generic!SB.0 (1.59%), FraudTool.Win32.FakeAV.hdd (v) (1.06%), and Trojan.ASF.Wimad (0.73%).

Meanwhile according to GFI, the malicious FakeVimes threat increased during January 2010, while FraudTool.Win32.FakeVimes!delf (v) was reported as occupying the No.9 position, and accounting for 0.73% of the total detections.

Also, during January 2011, the Top Fifty List of malware threats revealed PersonalInternetSecurity2011.FakeVimes on the 12th spot with 0.64% of infections. Understandably, the FakeVimes group of rogues has about 17 members that made their debut during January 2010. Meanwhile, Win32.FakeVimes!delf (v), FraudTool.Win32.FakeVimes!VB (v) and Antivirus8.FakeXPA also made it to the Top Fifty List.

Another malware on GFI's 10 most-prevalent malware list is the Conficker virus in a new incarnation that continues to be vibrant despite its writers abandoning it in 2010. Additionally, there was a steep hike vis-à-vis scareware software that GFI researchers detected during January 2011.

Remarking about the report's discoveries, Communications and Research Analyst Tom Kelchner for GFI Software stated that it was evident that rogue operations increased also because the company found approximately 22 fresh rogues during January 2011, which was plentiful for a single month given that a mean of 13-14 fresh iterations were observed each month over the past 3 years. Businesswire.com published this on February 4, 2011.

» SPAMfighter News - 2/14/2011

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