Posts Tagged ‘mcafee’

McAfee has released the Q2 Threat Report for 2009, which indicates that spam volumes have gone up by 141% since March, making this the “longest ever streak of increasing spam volumes” on record. The Q1 threat report, discussed here, indicated that cybercriminals had taken over almost 12 million new IP addresses (zombies) since January, a 50% increase over 2008. This record has now been broken: Q2 set a new record for zombie computers levels, at nearly 14 million.

In addition to spam volumes, the Q2 report looks at some new trends and threats, as well as continued trends of cybercrime as a service and cybercriminals targeting social networks. Indeed, a major attack was led against Twitter and Facebook just this week.

Key Findings from this Threat Report:

• > 14 million computers have been enslaved by cybercriminal botnets (16% increase over Q1)
• Spam has risen 80% in this quarter, over Q1, with June beating the highest ever recorded spam level
• Spam comprised 92% of all mail, also setting a new record high
• Over a 30-day period, AutoRun malware troubled more than 27 million files, making it one of the most prevalent pieces of malware in the world (with a detection rate greater than Conficker was)
• There were nearly 14 million new zombies in Q2, also a new record. Computers in the U.S., China and Brazil lead for zombie figures.

Download the Q2 Report here [PDF].

McAfee launched a new web series this week entitled H*Commerce: The Business of Hacking You at StopHCommerce.com

H*Commerce, Hacker Commerce, is the “business of making money through the illegal use of technology to compromise personal and business data.” The new series will air 6 episodes, one episode being added every two weeks. Each episode involves real people doing normal online activities who are then attacked by cybercriminals. Each episode focuses on real stories in a documentary-style.

Here is the first webisode, “Unexpected Beginnings”, telling the story of Janella Spears, who lost more than $440,000 as the result of an email scam. The video explores the effects this cybercrime had on Janella and her family as well as Janella’s education in how to clean her system, handle hackers and stop cybercrime scams.

McAfee also recently launched a Cybercrime Response Unit designed to help victims of cybercrime.

McAfee has released the Q1 threat report for 2009 indicating that cybercriminals have taken over almost 12 million new IP addresses since January, a 50% increase over 2008. The report also indicates a shift in botnet activity, with the US now hosting the largest percentage of botnet-infected computers (80% of all zombie machines – those machines controlled by spammers and others).

Key Findings from the Threat Report:

• Spam levels are still 30% below their peak levels (due to the November 2008 McColo shutdown), though spam volumes have recovered about 70% so far and are rising (the increase in zombie computers will trend this upward)
• The US accounts for 35% of global spam output
• Servers hosting legitimate content have increased in popularity with malware writers as a means for distributing malicious and illegal content.
• Cybercriminals are increasing their use of URL redirects and Web 2.0 sites to disguise their locations.
• Compared with the overall landscape, the Conficker worm represents a small subset of all threat reports. AutoRun-based malware is detected in far greater numbers than Conficker so far.

McAfee predicts that social networks will continue to offer attackers a popular means for social-entineering attacks, as we saw in Q1 with the Koobface variants being distributed on Facebook. Among other trends, customizing attacks and using fear tactics are also on the rise.

Download the report here.

Absolute Software announces today that it’s consumer product, LoJack for Laptops, will now be available for purchase at the McAfee online store for US customers.

The addition of LoJack for Laptops to the store offers McAfee customers a more comprehensive computer security package, all purchased at once. LoJack for Laptops tracks and recovers stolen computers. If your computer goes missing, the Absolute Theft Recovery Team will work with law enforcement to get it back.

“When consumers purchase McAfee security suites as well as Absolute’s LoJack for Laptops it gives them the protection from two common headaches that computer owners face: rampant computer and Internet threats and computer thieves,” – Todd Gebhart, executive vice president and general manager of McAfee Consumer, Mobile and Small Business

You can buy Computrace LoJack for Laptops from McAfee for $39.99 (Standard) or $59.99 (Premium). The premium version includes our service guarantee and the data delete functionality.

Absolute Software’s Computrace LoJack for Laptops is meant for home and home office computer users. You can learn more about it here, or learn more about our corporate solutions here. Mac users, don’t forget that both LoJack for Laptops and Computrace are also available for you!