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  (Source: Symantec)
A new research report indicates the malware threat is increasing

Malicious code aimed at stealing personal information has grown at a record pace, Symantec said in its latest security report.

"The report noted that Web surfing remained the primary source of new infections in 2008, and that attackers are relying more and more on customized malicious code toolkits to develop and distribute their threats," Symantec said in a press statement.  "Furthermore, 90 percent of all threats detected by Symantec during the study period attempt to steal confidential information.  Threats with a keystroke-logging capability -- which can be used to steal information such as online bank account credentials -- made up 76 percent of threats to confidential information, up from 72 percent in 2007."

As the number of cyber threats continues to grow, spammers are becoming more skilled at creating ways to steal personal information.  The majority of web-based attacks are aimed at legitimate web sites that spammers have hijacked, which is then used to distribute malicious content to each visitor of the site.

Spammers have been greatly aided by the number of web sites and blogs created by non-professionals, which often times are poorly defended against even the most basic vulnerabilities that can be easily exploited.

There is still an extremely high demand for stolen personal data, which is only growing now that the global economy continues to struggle.  Symantec discovered the current supply for stolen information is continually growing, with stolen credit card numbers available for 6 cents per stolen number -- up to $30 per stolen number for orders with less stolen credit information.

Microsoft's latest security report also described an increase in "scareware," which is an internet scam that tricks innocent computer users into signing up for a promotion that really is a piece of software designed to steal personal information.

Symantec, Microsoft and other software companies are closely watching the number of Internet security issues, as they'll be responsible for drafting different methods to help combat attackers. 

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Malware is up?
By chmilz on 4/15/2009 8:15:34 AM , Rating: 3
That means Norton Antivirus must be coming preinstalled on more machines than ever. Can't think of a more common malware than Symantec's programs themselves.




RE: Malware is up?
By Bateluer on 4/15/2009 9:02:22 AM , Rating: 1
Agreed, Symantec's products don't actually detect any common malware infections. Whether this is by design or because Symantec's products are just that crappy, I cannot say.

Malware infections are continuing to explode around the world though, they are right about that. Too bad they aren't helping the problem.


RE: Malware is up?
By saiga6360 on 4/15/2009 11:19:14 AM , Rating: 4
You must be speaking from non-experience because the latest Symantec is not that bad. It is rather good actually and I recommend it. The free McAfee crap that cable providers give out OTOH...

The real lesson is, there is not one single security app out there that can prevent you from stupid. Most infections are self-inflicted and I think the best prevention is to actually suffer and learn through a bad experience with malware. Nothing teaches better.


RE: Malware is up?
By Fanon on 4/15/2009 1:53:48 PM , Rating: 3
That's assuming that people are computer literate enough to learn from their mistakes. Ask any average user what they did to get their computer infected, and they'll tell you that they don't have a clue.

There isn't any security software worth paying for in today's malware-infested world. None truly remove the threat; at best they tell you the files/programs/registry entries that you have to remove manually.


RE: Malware is up?
By saiga6360 on 4/15/2009 4:38:46 PM , Rating: 2
There is nothing computer literate about it, it is about people who actually WANT to learn from their mistakes who will see less malware.

Pay vs no pay? If it does what you expect it to, what does it matter? I'm sure there are people out there who do not even install anything and manage to stave off malware. If Symantec is now able to package in a competent AV to my pre-built PC, I can only be happy about that because yes, they did suck for many years and it is good to see something much better than the crap that ISPs are giving away.


RE: Malware is up?
By Fanon on 4/15/2009 4:50:50 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
There is nothing computer literate about it, it is about people who actually WANT to learn from their mistakes who will see less malware.


I'll give you that.

quote:
Pay vs no pay? If it does what you expect it to, what does it matter?


That's the thing; none of them do what I expect them to do. I expect any AV software to identify and remove malware. The first they're decent at, the latter they suck at. That makes them not worth paying for.


RE: Malware is up?
By Samus on 4/15/09, Rating: 0
RE: Malware is up?
By khaydin on 4/15/2009 2:21:46 PM , Rating: 2
We use Symantec AV 10.x Corporate and it's horrible when it comes to malware. It detects viruses fine but things like Anti-Virus 360, Spyware Protect 2009, or Anti-Virus 2009 are not detected at all. We have to use a program called MalwareBytes Anti-Malware to get rid of malware our users install.


RE: Malware is up?
By Fanon on 4/15/2009 2:34:23 PM , Rating: 2
Update definitions? We have the same Symantec version and it detects those applications fine. Neutralizing them is a completely different story.


Malware ... Preinstalled
By Jargo on 4/15/2009 9:30:35 AM , Rating: 1
Havent touched their products for a few years now but
after some very ugly experiences with some of the Symantec products, especially pre-installed Norton Anti-Virus, for me its more like:
Symantec = Malware




RE: Malware ... Preinstalled
By C'DaleRider on 4/15/2009 12:01:50 PM , Rating: 3
So, since you admittedly haven't touched Symantec products in years, that then makes you an expert on what Symantec is putting out now?

Your logic = fail!


RE: Malware ... Preinstalled
By Kary on 4/15/2009 3:59:35 PM , Rating: 2
I never stuck my head in a cows butt, but I assume it would be gross.

I HAVE used Norton AV (even paid for it..stupid me) in the past and since they have the same name, I assume it is the same company still making the same cow butt of a product (language cleaned for the kiddies :)

I also have in the past 6 months had to remove the demo version of Norton off of customer units because it refused to let the customer on the internet..could have been old versions but STILL, if your software SUCKS, you charge money for it, then FIX IT OR YOU GET A BAD NAME...oh..and of course the uninstall didn't work, either (which is also pretty typical)


RE: Malware ... Preinstalled
By Jargo on 4/16/2009 4:15:05 AM , Rating: 3
Not logic but opinion and personal experience, thank you very much.


Beginners and the internet
By ninus3d on 4/15/2009 7:47:55 AM , Rating: 1
Its been years ago since i first realized that letting my parent roam around on the Internet freely.
Every time i was asked if i could fix their computer it was so filled to the brink with adware etc.

Still have the luck of them not being fraud or had a successful credit card info heist occur.

Being a novice on the Internet is a really dangerous thing these days, are we seeing any invention on security or software side that will potentially make this a lot safer again or is the dark side of it here to stay?




RE: Beginners and the internet
By ninus3d on 4/15/2009 7:48:37 AM , Rating: 1
Its been years ago since i first realized that letting my parent roam around on the Internet freely *had its drawbacks


RE: Beginners and the internet
By Icelight on 4/15/2009 12:28:23 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Being a novice on the Internet is a really dangerous thing these days


This. I cringe every time I even think about family members using their computers for personal banking and the like. Every time either myself, or another computer-knowledgable family member, goes to tune up their PC it's always full of junk.


RE: Beginners and the internet
By ClownPuncher on 4/15/2009 12:45:45 PM , Rating: 2
If you drive a car without knowing how, you will likely crash. Why are people so against learning how to use things? Sure, malware is a huge problem, but a more educated user base would help a ton more than a crappy software band aid. The internet is not new.


RE: Beginners and the internet
By Icelight on 4/15/2009 4:14:15 PM , Rating: 2
That it would...but it seems most (older) people just don't want to bother learning how to play it safe on the internet...which goes further and results in their kids not learning how to play it safe on the internet.

There's no singular, common educational resource for the internet (er, besides the internet itself...or common sense) like there is for learning how to drive a car (driver's ed, mandatory licensing tests, etc.). Yes, everyone who uses the internet should educate themselves...but no, it will sadly never happen.


Subject
By rdeegvainl on 4/15/2009 8:39:53 AM , Rating: 4
"Please buy my software" is all i heard from this.




RE: Subject
By HakonPCA on 4/15/2009 12:36:27 PM , Rating: 2
yeah, I was thinking

"In other news....everyone needs to buy our product, cause like, there's lots of malware out there."

It's like the pirates business model, "we don't hurt anyone (except for that one time....) if you just pay the ransoms it works great, and EVERYONE's happy"


title
By nosfe on 4/15/2009 8:16:05 AM , Rating: 5
am i the only one that read the title without the ":"?
quote:
Symantec malware continues to explode around the world




Cut them off
By arazok on 4/15/2009 10:03:13 AM , Rating: 1
Couldn’t Microsoft just update Windows to not allow internet access (except Windows Update) unless all the patches are installed? Maybe even go further and not allow internet access without anti-virus running?

I’m sure it would cause its own frustrations, but it has to be better than this mess we have now. Just ban irresponsible people from the net. We don’t allow kids to go to school without their shots, do the same for computers.




RE: Cut them off
By rdeegvainl on 4/15/2009 10:31:52 AM , Rating: 2
First thing, microsoft doesn't own the internet.
Secondly, their patches can break things, and cause needed software to stop working.
Third there is no such thing as a fully secure machine, so to be fair they would have to shut down all machines, even there own.
Finally, and most importantly, it would wreck havoc on their image, and cause them to drasticly loose market share.


RE: Cut them off
By Fanon on 4/15/2009 1:58:44 PM , Rating: 2
Fifth, you assume antivirus software is worthwhile. It's not =/


"Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine." -- Bill Gates









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