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Posted by: Samker
« on: 16. August 2009., 08:51:30 »
Internet security threats such as worms and trojans last for just 24 hours, says Panda Security.
PandaLabs, which is part of the security firm, said that if the threats are unsuccessful after a day they become inactive and harmless. Instead, cybercriminals modify the threat's code to ensure their creations go unnoticed by users and security vendors.
"This is a never-ending race which, unfortunately, the hackers are still winning. We have to wait until we get hold of the malware they have created to be able to analyse, classify and combat it. In this race, vendors that work with traditional, manual analysis techniques are too slow to vaccinate clients, as the distribution and infection span is very short," Luis Corrons, PandaLabs technical director.
The security firm also recently revealed that fake antivirus solutions, which attempt to steal money from web users by luring them into paying to remove nonexistent threats, are on the rise.
In its Business of Rogueware report, PandaLabs said around 35 million new computers are infected with fake security software every month.
The company also revealed it expects to record more than 637,000 new rogueware samples by the end of Q3 and it estimates cybercriminals are earning approximately $34m (£21m) per month from the scams.
"Rogueware is so popular among cybercriminals primarily because they do not need to steal users' personal information like passwords or account numbers in order to profit from their victims," said Corrons.
"By taking advantage of the fear in malware attacks, they prey upon willing buyers of their fake anti-virus software, and are finding more and more ways to get to their victims, especially as popular social networking sites and tools like Facebook and Twitter have become mainstream."
(PCW)