Malware surges amid Grumblar fallout

 

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By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 17 Aug 2009 at 13:25

Web-delivered malware jumped by almost a third in the second quarter of this year, according to figures from security firm ScanSafe, which also reported a large rise in zero-day threats.

Previously unknown malware, which the company claims is not blocked by traditional signature-based scanners, peaked at nearly nine out of ten of all malware blocks and on average accounted for 32% of all web malware.

According to the company, the most prevalent zero-day problems stemmed from the second stage Gumblar attacks, and the nature of the threat was indicative of increasingly complex methods being employed.

Grumblar and its copycats struck earlier this year, compromising websites and then using the infected sites to further spread the malware to anyone landing on the stricken pages.

“The evasiveness and sophistication of the Gumblar threat has set quite a precedent for threats to come,” Mary Landesman, senior security researcher at ScanSafe, said in a statement.

ScanSafe’s Global Threat Report also says 2008 was the worst year on record for Web-delivered malware - with a threefold increase from 2007 - and claims that the attacks will double again this year.