January 31, 2006

The sheer number of malicious bots appearing everywhere on the Web has increased more than 175 percent between 2004 and last year. In all, there has been more than 10,000 cases of malware incidents and attacks detected and documented by Internet security firm PandaLabs.

Malicious bots represents more than 20 percent of new malware detected last year. Bots infect and take up residence on the computers of unsuspecting users where they await further commands.

But more worrying is PandaLabs' belief that this most recent threat is accompanied by a new professionalism in the creation of malware and the creators' search for financial return.

This results in a number of variants developed in any one malware family stretching into the thousands, making it nearly impossible for signature-based protection systems to cope with outbreaks.

To this end, antivirus companies are increasingly looking towards heuristic and behavioural analysis technologies which can protect a system much earlier than signature-based solutions.

The greatest threat, however, is when bots are deployed to build extensive networks, popularly known as botnets, which are then used by their creators to take large-scale actions, such as sending spam or distributing other malware.

Some 'bot herders' even hire out the botnet to spammers, blackmailers and other profiteers to distribute spyware, send spam or launch denial of service attacks.

"Botnets are one of the current business tools of cyber-crime, and the biggest danger lies in their secrecy," said Luis Corrons, director of PandaLabs.

"A large company could be serving the interests of a group of malware creators without realising it. Their computers could be at the disposal of cyber-crooks, creating several legal implications."

Source: Vnunet

Save Internet Security.ca's URL to the list of your favorite web sites in your Web browser by clicking here.

Become an authorized reseller of Proxy Sentinel™ and Firewall Sentinel™. Do like the rest of our authorized resellers and have your clients benefit the important security features of our products and solutions, while increasing your sales at the same time. Click here for all the details.

You can link to the Internet Security web site as much as you like. Read our section on how your company can participate in our reciprocal link exchange program and increase your rankings in the major search engines such as
Google and all the others.