Malware is apparently the new spam. McAfee tracked more than six million unique malware samples in the first quarter, making it the most active quarter for malware ever.
"It's been a busy start to 2011 for cybercriminals," Vincent Weafer, senior vice president of McAfee Labs, said in a statement.
February was the most active malware month with 2.75 million samples, McAfee said. The company also tracked more than 350,000 fake anti-virus software samples in March 2011, its highest levels in more than a year. Spam, however, was at its lowest levels since 2007, thanks in part to the demise of the Rustock botnet.
"Even though this past quarter once again showed that spam has slowed, it doesn't mean that cybercriminals aren't actively pursuing alternate avenues," Weafer continued. "We're seeing a lot of emerging threats, such as Android malware and new botnets attempting to take over where Rustock left off, that will have a significant impact on the activity we see quarter after quarter."
Symbian is still the most popular OS for mobile malware, but Android is making gains to come in at number two. Part of the problem, McAfee said, is that Google allows side-loading of Android apps and does not have a centralized place where it checks apps for suspicious behavior.
Google this week removed more than two dozen apps from the Android Market due to malware. Mobile security firm NetQuin also identified malware on at least 20 Android apps that auto-dialed phones to incur high user fees.
On the spam front, McAfee tracked 1.5 trillion messages per day, but that is less than half of what it was one year ago.
In September, government agencies here and abroad arrested dozens of international cyber-gangsters responsible for the Zeus botnet, while Rustock went down in March thanks to Microsoft, anti-malware company FireEye, the University of Washington, and pharmaceutical firm Pfizer.
McAfee warned, however, that Zeus' author is working to merge the Zeus source code with the SpyEye botnet, which can affect banking and online transactions. There is also competition from other botnets like Maazben, Bobaz, Lethic, Cutwail, and Grum.
"There was a strong uptick in new botnet infections toward the end of Q1, most likely due to the reseeding process, where cybercriminals slow down activity in order to spend time rebuilding botnets," McAfee said. "The botnet takedowns have resulted in an increase in the price of sending spam on the underground marketplace, showing that the laws of supply and demand also apply to cybercrime."
Why are people falling for these threats? Not surprisingly, sophisticated cyber criminals try to mask their schemes in pretty packages. Spam promoting physical products was the most popular way to lure people in; beware of iPad and HDTV emails, apparently. McAfee also noticed a rise in "banker" Trojans, which lure people in with things like UPS, FedEx, USPS, and the IRS. Spammers are also taking advantage of current events, like the Japan earthquake and tsunamis.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com
"It's been a busy start to 2011 for cybercriminals," Vincent Weafer, senior vice president of McAfee Labs, said in a statement.
February was the most active malware month with 2.75 million samples, McAfee said. The company also tracked more than 350,000 fake anti-virus software samples in March 2011, its highest levels in more than a year. Spam, however, was at its lowest levels since 2007, thanks in part to the demise of the Rustock botnet.
"Even though this past quarter once again showed that spam has slowed, it doesn't mean that cybercriminals aren't actively pursuing alternate avenues," Weafer continued. "We're seeing a lot of emerging threats, such as Android malware and new botnets attempting to take over where Rustock left off, that will have a significant impact on the activity we see quarter after quarter."
Symbian is still the most popular OS for mobile malware, but Android is making gains to come in at number two. Part of the problem, McAfee said, is that Google allows side-loading of Android apps and does not have a centralized place where it checks apps for suspicious behavior.
Google this week removed more than two dozen apps from the Android Market due to malware. Mobile security firm NetQuin also identified malware on at least 20 Android apps that auto-dialed phones to incur high user fees.
On the spam front, McAfee tracked 1.5 trillion messages per day, but that is less than half of what it was one year ago.
In September, government agencies here and abroad arrested dozens of international cyber-gangsters responsible for the Zeus botnet, while Rustock went down in March thanks to Microsoft, anti-malware company FireEye, the University of Washington, and pharmaceutical firm Pfizer.
McAfee warned, however, that Zeus' author is working to merge the Zeus source code with the SpyEye botnet, which can affect banking and online transactions. There is also competition from other botnets like Maazben, Bobaz, Lethic, Cutwail, and Grum.
"There was a strong uptick in new botnet infections toward the end of Q1, most likely due to the reseeding process, where cybercriminals slow down activity in order to spend time rebuilding botnets," McAfee said. "The botnet takedowns have resulted in an increase in the price of sending spam on the underground marketplace, showing that the laws of supply and demand also apply to cybercrime."
Why are people falling for these threats? Not surprisingly, sophisticated cyber criminals try to mask their schemes in pretty packages. Spam promoting physical products was the most popular way to lure people in; beware of iPad and HDTV emails, apparently. McAfee also noticed a rise in "banker" Trojans, which lure people in with things like UPS, FedEx, USPS, and the IRS. Spammers are also taking advantage of current events, like the Japan earthquake and tsunamis.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com
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