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November Nasty Month For Viruses
John Stith
Staff Writer
2005-12-06
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As the year begins to wrap up, the reports are coming in for cybercrime in 2005. Viruses are always a point of interest and 2005 set new records for viral invasions. The list is topped by names like Zafi, Netsky and Sober and November has proven to be the worst month yet.
 | | November Worst Month for Viruses |  |
Sophos released their annual security report and 2005 was not a very good year. As a matter of fact, it looks like it may have been the worst ever. They composed a top ten list of offenders based on the percentage of reports.
Number one on the list was W32/Zafi-D with 16.7%. Two was W32/Netsky-P with 15.7%. Then came W32/Sober-Z at 6%, W32/Sober-N at 4.3%, W32/Zafi-B at 4%, W32/Mytob-BE at 3.9%, and W32/Mytob-AS at 3.8%. Rounding out the list was W32/Netsky-D at 3%, W32/Mytob-GH at 1.9%, and w32/Mytob-EP at 1.8%.
While all these viruses have been around for a while in one form or another, keep in mind, Sober-Z didn't surface until November and new viruses are coming down the pike all time.
"Don't let the figures fool you - old-timers may head up the top ten, but the enormous rise in the number of new threats shows that 2005 has been anything but quiet on the malware front," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.
"This huge increase stems from the escalating interest in authoring Trojans, worms and viruses shown by criminal gangs intent on making a profit. By focusing their efforts on a smaller number of victims, cybercriminals can target them with bespoke malware, increasing their chances of slipping under the security net."
Sophos pointed out that while all of the top ten were Windows-based worms, Trojan horses written during 2005 outweigh the worms by 2 to 1. Also, the percentage of malware that includes spyware components rose from 54.2% in January to 66.4% by the end of the year.
They said these figures reinforce the notion of targets attacks instead of carpet-bombing and also help explain the rise in spam spewed out by zombie computers. They said this accounts for over 60% of the world's spam.
"Unlike viruses or worms, Trojans cannot replicate on their own, meaning that they must be deliberately emailed or planted on websites in order to spread. It's more and more common for new Trojans to become widespread after being spammed en masse from zombie computers," added Cluley.
"It's no surprise that most of the top ten threats allow hackers to gain access to an infected PC, enabling them to create a zombie, steal information, and dish out their malware from under the nose of unsuspecting users."
The Sophos report reveals that unprotected computers have a 40% chance of being infected by an Internet worm within ten minutes, turning them into a zombie under a remote hacker's control.
The report also identifies which countries around the world have been responsible for relaying the most spam during 2005, and that pornographic spam and messages attempting "pump-and-dump" stock scams have surged.
This could also give hints to what's coming down the road for the coming year. One can expect the illicit, Internet activities to continue at an unfettered pace. Until more companies and governments get more serious about cracking down on cybercrime however, these problems will only continue to get worse.
About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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