McAfee has unveiled its McAfee Threats Report: Third Quarter 2010, which uncovered that average daily malware growth has reached its highest levels, with an average of 60,000 new pieces of malware identified per day, almost quadrupling since 2007. At the same time, spam levels decreased in volume this quarter, both globally and in local geographies. McAfee identified more than 14 million unique pieces of malware in 2010, one million more than Q3 2009.
One of the most sophisticated pieces of malware that plagued users in Q3 was the Zeus botnet, the malware at the root of U.S. small businesses losing $70 million at the hands of Ukrainian cybercriminals. Most recently, cybercriminals unleashed the Zeus botnet aimed at mobile devices, designed to intercept SMS messages to validate transactions. Although attacks on social media, such as Koobface and AutoRun malware, seem to have leveled off, the attacks have not ended cybercriminal manipulation.
"Our Q3 Threat report shows that cybercriminals are not only becoming more savvy, but attacks are becoming increasingly more severe," said Mike Gallagher, Senior Vice- President & Chief Technology Officer of Global Threat Intelligence for McAfee. "Cybercriminals are doing their homework, and are aware of what is popular, and what is insecure. They are attacking mobile devices and social networking sites, so education about user activity online, as well as incorporating the proper security technologies are of utmost importance."
The discovery of the highly-sophisticated Stuxnet worm in July marked the beginning of a new era, and by September, more detailed analysis found that Stuxnet is more than just a spy worm, but a weapon written to sabotage critical infrastructure. Stuxnet has infected thousands of computers of unintended victims from all over the globe. McAfee Global Threat Intelligence technology has tracked the breadth and concentration of Stuxnet infections globally, which were first found in Iran, finding that today India suffers from the greatest concentration of attacks.
