AntivirusWorld

Top 10 exploitation attempts detected for this period, ranked by vulnerability traffic. Percentage indicates the portion of activity the vulnerability accounted for out of all attacks reported in this edition.

Two Top Twenties have been compiled from data generated by the Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) throughout March 2009.

The first Top Twenty is based on data collected by Kaspersky Lab’s version 2009 antivirus product. The ranking is made up of the malicious programs, adware and potentially unwanted programs most frequently detected on users’ computers.

Doctor Web presents a review of activities of malicious programs in March 2009.

Drive-by-download components dominate February’s list of Top Ten E-Threats, according to BitDefender®. These drive-by-download components are atomic bits of malware strung together like a "daisy-chain" by malware creators. Each "atom" represents another attempt by cybercriminals to compromise the security of a user’s system.

Botnets

A large number of malicious programs are spread in order to increase the number of zombie computers in botnets. Tdss and Virut are common examples of rapidly growing zombie networks.

Sality.AO is a virus that combines the features of traditional viruses (infecting files and damaging as many computers as possible to achieve notoriety for creators) with the objectives of new malware, i.e. generating financial returns for cyber-criminals. PandaLabs, Panda Security’s malware detection and analysis laboratory, has noted an increase in the number of infections caused by this malware over recent days, as well as new variants using the same techniques. It is therefore advising users to be on their guard against a possible massive attack.

The FortiGuard Global Security Research Team has investigated the case of a new mobile worm resorting to a breakthrough propagation strategy, which leverages SMS messages and Internet access.

The number of computers infected by the Conficker worm continues to grow, according to data from PandaLabs. A study carried out by PandaLabs revealed that almost 6 percent (5.77%) of computers worldwide are infected by this worm. The study -involving almost 2 million computers- show that the infection, which originated in China, has now extended across 83 countries, and is particularly virulent in Spain, the USA, Taiwan, Brazil and Mexico.

BitDefender Lab is cautioning users to be on the lookout for Valentine’s Day-themed messages and urges users against opening suspicious emails from unknown senders.

Top 10 malware activity by individual variant. Percentage indicates the portion of activity the malware variant accounted for out of all malware threats reported in this edition. Top 100 shifts indicate positional changes compared to last edition's Top 100 ranking, with "new" highlighting the malware's debut in the Top 100.

Rank	Malware Variant	Percentage	Top 100 Shift
1	Spy/OnLineGames	8.8	+2
2	W32/Netsky!similar	8.2	-
3	W32/Virut.A	7.4	+3
4	HTML/Iframe.DN!tr.dldr	7.1	+1
5	HTML/Iframe_CID!exploit	6.9	-1
6	W32/Dropper.VEM!tr	5.4	+94
7	W32/MyTob.BH.fam@mm	3.7	+3
8	W32/Small.AACQ!tr.dldr	2.6	-1
9	W32/MyTob.AQ@mm	2.1	+6
10	W32/Basine.C!tr.dldr	1.9	-2