Q2 2010 Malware Overview
Anchiva RapidRX Security Labs detected and blocked about 1.5 million malware of various types throughout the first quarter of 2010. An assemblage of worm, backdoor, spyware, risky software, and adware takes around 25%, whereas Trojan reaches 70.8% with a slight increase than the first quarter. Traditional virus and other malware saw little ...

Q4 2009 Malware Overview
Anchiva RapidRX Security Center detected and blocked about 2 million malware of various types throughout the fourth quarter of 2009, a sharp increase than the last one.  A slight increase was seen in Trojan which tops the category list with over 50%, followed by worm, backdoor, spyware, risky software, and adware, whereas traditional virus and other ...

Q3 2009 Malware Overview
Anchiva RapidRX Security Center detected and blocked about 1.5 million malware in the third quarter, a slight increase than the previous one. Trojan tops the category list with over 50%; followed by worm, backdoor, spyware, adware, and risky software, whereas traditional virus and other malware are accounted for only 2%.

Q2 2009 Malware Highlights
Anchiva RapidRX Security Center detected and blocked about 1.4 million malware in the second quarter. Trojan topped the category list with over 50%; followed by significant portions of spyware, worm, backdoor, risky software, and adware, whereas traditional virus and other malwares are almost negligible.

Focused malware delivery: In this quarter there was increased usage of HTML attachments along with traditional links to malware such as the "here you have" worm. LinkedIn spam and malware outbreaks: Fake LinkedIn invitations and reminders were used to spread links leading to malicious or pharmacy sites. Changing outbreak tactics: Commtouch labs tracks an email-borne malware outbreak with an apparent change of tactics midway. PayPal phishing: The quarterly...

During the fourth quarter of 2009, the Mal-Bredo A virus continued to circulate the world for the second quarter in a row. Cybercriminals morphed its packaging from attachments that appeared to be from internationally known package delivery companies to attachments that appeared to be from Facebook, the popular social networking site. Throughout the quarter, the number of Mal-Bredo A variants dropped to under 1000, while the number of actual outbreaks rose...

For the second quarter in a row, there were spikes in email-borne viruses not caught by major anti-virus engines, differentiating these last two quarters from rather consistently low numbers seen during the previous 18 months. A similar spike was reported last quarter, but this quarter's increase was due to the massive outbreak of two particular viruses and their numerous variants. Also during the quarter, there was debate in the industry...

The major news of the second quarter was the massive rise in email-borne viruses not caught by major anti-virus engines. One explanation for the dramatic rise is the appearance of aggressive new variants of several different Trojans. Anti-virus companies have been unable to produce new signatures in time to protect their customers. Some companies try to develop generic signatures, but these have proven ineffective in an outbreak of this size.

The major news of the first quarter was the rapid propagation of the Conficker worm. Research indicates its three variations have infected more than 15 million computers, weaving a massive zombie botnet, since appearing on the scene in November 2008. The botnet lay dormant for weeks, leaving computer users nervous and vulnerable; and only in the last days leading up to the publication of this report did it begin to be activated for malicious purposes.

The major Internet-threat related news of the fourth quarter was the downfall of one of the largest, most notorious Web hosting services, McColo, which temporarily reduced global spam levels to one-third their usual level. As a result, spam levels during the fourth quarter reached their lowest point for the year: 59 percent of all email. Spam levels over the course of the year ranged from 59 to 94 percent of all email sent on the Internet.