October 2010
BitDefender Top 5 E-Threat List Reveals an Assortment of Malicious Flavors
The quarterly malware distribution chart for Australia and New Zeeland reveals removable devices, instant messenger and peer-to-peer platforms as the weak links of PC users▓ security.
BitDefender®, an award-winning provider of innovative internet security solutions, today announced the Top Five E-Threats for the third quarter of 2010.
The notorious Autorun family is “represented” in the quarterly top for Australia and New Zeeland by two e-threats: Trojan.AutorunInf.Gen and Trojan.Autorun.AET, ranking first and fourth with percentages of 11.47 and 3.24, respectively. This malicious family is constantly amongst the most “popular” threats of each month as it easily spreads via removable devices and Windows®shared folders. The explanation is simple: the Windows® Autorun feature is intensively exploited by malware authors to force the execution of dangerous files located on infected USB drives.
Malware top for July - September 2010:
Ranking second, Win32.Worm.Downadup a.k.a. Kido or Confiker owns a big chunk of the malicious distribution in Australia and New Zeeland. It makes use of the autorun feature and that is why it usually secondates Trojan.AutorunInf.Gen in the malware distribution charts.Computer usersshould always scan external devices especially after having plugged them into public computers such as those available in copy shops and libraries. Plus, computer users should know that, since Microsoft®has patched this vulnerability in Windows®Vista®and Windows®7, they only need to update their operating systems and antivirus solutions in order to stay safe.
Occupying the third place, with 3.34 percent of the total amount of malware in Australia and New Zeeland, Trojan.Generic.4170878is a newcomer with great “negative” potential. This backdoor provides the cybercriminal remote access to the infected system and, unfortunately, its distribution rate has known a steady rise in these last few months.
The Australia and New Zeeland quarterly top alsoincludes a representative of the exploit family, namely-Exploit.PDF-JS.Gen with 2.43 percent. Exploit.PDF-JS.Gen is a constant presence in the malware distribution chart. This generic detection deals with malformed PDF files exploiting different vulnerabilities found in the Javascript engine of Adobe® PDF Reader® with the purpose of executing further malicious code on users’ computers.
The BitDefender July- September 2010 Top 10 E-Threat list includes:
|
1. |
Trojan.AutorunINF.Gen |
11.47% |
|
2. |
Win32.Worm.Downadup.Gen |
5.61% |
|
3. |
Trojan.Generic.4170878 |
3.34% |
|
4. |
Trojan.Autorun.AET |
3.24% |
|
5. |
Exploit.PDF-JS.Gen |
2.43% |
|
6. |
Win32.Sality.OG |
2.27% |
|
7. |
Exploit.CplLnk.Gen |
2.22% |
|
8. |
Gen:Variant.Rimecud.1 |
1.69% |
|
9. |
Gen:Variant.Hiloti.1 |
1.43% |
|
10. |
Win32.Virtob.Gen.12 |
1.43% |
|
Other |
64.87% |
For a video of Catalin Cosoi, Head of BitDefender Online Threats Lab, talking about the Q3 e-threats, click here. For video tips of how to stay safe from these threats, click here.
About Bitdefender®
Bitdefender is the creator of one of the world's fastest and most effective lines of internationally certified internet security software.Since 2001, the company has been an industry pioneer, introducing and developing award-winning protection. Today, Bitdefender technology secures the digital experience of around 400 million home and corporate users across the globe.
Recently, the company has won a range of key independent recommendations in the US, UK and across Europe, including ConsumerSearch, Which?, Stiftung Warentest and Taenk. Bitdefender antivirus technology has also finished top in leading industry tests from both AV Test and AV-Comparatives. More information about Bitdefender's antivirus products is available from the company's security solutions press room. Additionally, Bitdefender publishes Malware City providing the latest updates on security threats and helping users stay informed in the everyday battle against malware.