Recent Research Report Also Finds that 74 Percent of Email Received by
Users is Spam
GLENDALE, Calif., Aug. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Panda Security, a leading
provider of IT security solutions, today announced that PandaLabs, Panda
Security's laboratory for detecting and analyzing malware, announced the
findings from a joint report with CommTouch on the current state of spam.
The report found that on average during the second quarter of this year,
more than 10 million zombie computers (systems infected by 'bots' and
controlled remotely by cyber criminals) were sending spam and emails with
malware every day. The full report can be accessed at:
http://www.pandasecurity.com/emailhtml/oxygen/Q2_08 Email_Threats -
Panda.pdf.
According to the report, the vast number of 'zombies' continues to be
largely responsible for the avalanche of spam suffered by users and
companies. Between April and June 2008, 74 percent of all mail received was
spam. The bots infecting these computers are small programs dropped on
computers that enable attackers to take remote control of the system and
botnets are groups of computers infected by bots and primed to act in
unison. Cyber-crooks send instructions to these computers, including
commands to download malware onto the system, display advertising to the
user, launch denial of service attacks, and above all, distribute spam.
"This is not just annoying for users, who have to delete all of this
mail, but in corporate environments it has important repercussions on
productivity and resource consumption," explains Luis Corrons, technical
director of PandaLabs. "Nucleus Research, an independent consultant, put
the cost of receiving and deleting spam at $712 per employee.(1)"
In the second quarter of 2008, Turkey became the country with most
zombie computers (11 percent of the global total), followed by Brazil (8.4
percent) and Russia (7.4 percent). The USA, which in the first quarter
accounted for 5 percent of all zombies, is now in ninth place with just 4.3
percent of the total.
Email threat trends in the second quarter of 2008
During the second quarter of 2008, there have been no revolutionary
trends in the distribution of spam and malware via email, largely due to
the fact that existing methods are still serving cyber-crooks well.
Google Adwords has been at the center of one of the most notable
attacks over the last quarter. This Google service had been used previously
to launch phishing attacks and the trend continues. This type of attack
uses social engineering to trick users into revealing confidential details
(bank account numbers, passwords, etc.). Aimed at the owners of Google
Adwords accounts, the messages include subjects such as "your Adwords
Google account is stopped" or "account reactivation" and include seemingly
legitimate links. If users click the link, they are taken to a page that
appears genuine and are prompted to enter their confidential details which
will immediately fall into the hands of cyber-crooks.
Tax information has been another favorite of spammers. Around the
period for filing tax returns in April, attackers distributed mail with
subjects such as: "Get a fast tax refund free" or "Get fast relief for IRS
tax debt." In most cases, the aim of these attacks was to obtain
confidential details such as bank account numbers or physical addresses.
The Blogspot platform has also been used to host and distribute
malicious content. Perhaps as a result of the growing awareness by Blogspot
and its attempts to counter this type of content, spammers have begun to
use other platforms. Blogdrive fell victim in this second quarter to
spammers, who launched a wave of comments at the platform containing links
to pornographic websites.
For more information about these and other trends observed during the
second quarter of 2008, see the CommTouch and PandaLabs report at
http://www.pandasecurity.com/emailhtml/oxygen/Q2_08 Email_Threats -
Panda.pdf
About PandaLabs
Since 1990, its mission has been to detect and eliminate new threats as
rapidly as possible to offer our clients maximum security. To do so,
PandaLabs has an innovative automated system that analyzes and classifies
thousands of new samples a day and returns automatic verdicts (malware or
goodware). This system is the basis of collective intelligence, Panda
Security's new security model which can even detect malware that has evaded
other security solutions.
Currently, 94% of malware detected by PandaLabs is analyzed through
this system of collective intelligence. This is complemented through the
work of several teams, each specialized in a specific type of malware
(viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, phishing, spam, etc), work 24/7 to
provide global coverage. This translates into more secure, simpler and more
resource-friendly solutions for clients.
More information is available in the PandaLabs blog:
http://www.pandalabs.com
About Panda Security
Panda Security is one of the world's leading IT security providers,
with millions of clients across more than 200 countries and products
available in 23 languages. Its mission is to develop and provide global
solutions to keep clients' IT resources free from the damage inflicted by
viruses and other computer threats, at the lowest possible total cost of
ownership.
Panda Security proposes a new security model, designed to offer a
robust solution to the latest cyber-crime techniques. This is manifest in
the performance of the company's technology and products, with detection
ratios well above average market standards and most importantly, providing
greater security for its clients. For more information and evaluation
versions of all Panda Security solutions, visit our website at:
http://www.pandasecurity.com.
(1)
http://nucleusresearch.com/news/press-releases/nucleus-research-spam-
costing-us-businesses-712-per-employee-each-year/
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