NOW READ THIS
("Security Advisory")
Submitted by: Bill Hickey
NCVA List Master
NRT-0396 Malicious Programs Hit Record High:
The number of malicious programs found online has reached an
unprecedented high, say security firms. Security software testing organization
AV Test reported that it saw 5.49 million unique samples of malicious software
in 2007 - five times more than the 972,606 it saw in 2006. The organization
uses the samples to test security programs to see how many they can spot and
stop. Security company Panda Software said it was getting more than 3,000 novel
samples of so-called malware every day. Panda Software said the number of
malicious samples it received in 2007 was up ten-fold over 2006. Most of the
malicious programs detected by these security organizations are aimed at the
various versions of Microsoft's Windows operating system. The vast majority
of these unique malicious programs will be made up of elements from older
viruses that have been scrambled to look fresh. In addition, hi-tech criminals
are adopting several tactics to avoid being spotted by anti-virus programs which
try to spot the "signature" of each malicious program they know about.
To combat the rise in malware, some security firms have turned to heuristics, or
rules of thumb, to spot programs that are similar rather than identical to the
ones they have seen before. Others are using behavior blockers that shut down
any program that shows malicious intent.
(BBC News 08FEB08)