Bitdefender issues ‘H1 2010 E-Threats Landscape Report”

One bad Trojan is all it takes. For the first half of 2010, Trojan.Autoruninf.Gen accounted for over 11% of worldwide malware infections. According to the report’s contributors, the autorun technique is used by worm writers as a means of spreading their evil creation through mapped network drives or removable USB media, for example. Internet security providers had their work cut out for them.

The 33 page report is an interesting look backwards at the first half of the year. It’s vendor neutral. It’s actually a quick read with a number of graphics. For those who want a nice summary (if nice is the word), the report is worth downloading. This report isn't a "how to protect yourself" publication. The report looks at:

• Malware Threats in Review
• Spam and Phishing
• Phishing and Identity Theft
• Vulnerabilities, Exploits and Security Breaches

Other techniques talked about in the white paper besides Trojans that were used heavily included in the first half of the year included instant messaging worms and rogue AV software.

China and the Russian Federation have the negative distinction of being the predominant hosts for malware during the first ½ of 2010, at 31% and 22% respectively.

For Facebook® users, it was Koobface that wormed its way into the 500 million member community. Facebook Friends would find themselves receiving what looked to be a URL to a video page. Instead it would lead to an infected executable file.

Clickjacking was also a source of problems for the Facebook community as was deployment of adware via third-party rogue applications for Facebook®.

The US had its own negative claim to fame in the study. 28% of spam distribution by point of origin came from the US. China was distant second at 5%.

There are a few predictions for the latter half of this year.

• Botnet activity may increase
• Rogue software (particular AV) will trend upward
• Social networking sites such as Facebook will continue to be targeted
• In the Mobile OS world, threats will still be a rarity. However, Symbian, because of its 44% share, is the most likely target

The full report is available at http://www.bitdefender.com/files/News/file/H1_2010_E-Threats_Landscape_Report.pdf