SubscribeTrojan.Win32.Dialer.yz and Email-Worm.Win32.NetSky.q Lead The December Charts
Kaspersky Lab, a leading provider of Internet security software solutions that protect against viruses, Trojans, worms, spyware, crimeware, rootkits, phishing, hacker attacks and spam, today reported that the Trojan.Win33.Dialer.qn has been replaced at the top of the Online Scanner Top Twenty by yet another Trojan dialer. The Trojan.Win32.Dialer.yz tops the chart that comprises seven new and previously reported malicious Trojan programs.
Trojan Virus Detection
The Trojan.Win32.Dialer.yz was first detected on 11th December 2007 and has spread widely and actively. "Our virus lab has already detected more than 600 variants of this program," comments Senior Technology Consultant at Kaspersky Lab, David Emm."
According to the Interactive Media and Retail Group (IMRG), online sales in the run up to Christmas are expected to have reached £15bn, so it is perhaps no surprise that malicious programs designed to steal data featured heavily in December's Online Scanner Top Twenty. Two variants of the Perflogger keylogging program re-entered the rankings (in ninth and sixteenth place) with a new variant, Perflogger.cb joining them in twentieth place. Add the Trojan-Spy program TrojanSpy.Win32.Ardamax.n (fourteenth place) into the mix and it gives four programs in the Top Twenty that log keystrokes. Emm comments, "Even though this method of stealing data is as old as the hills, it is still a very popular approach among malicious users."
Whilst the veteran email worm Email-Worm.Win32.NetSky.q topped the Virus Top Twenty in December and accounted for 20% of mail traffic, it was the appearance of Trojans including Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Diehard.dc (second place) and its variants that was of significance. The .dc modification of this program that (similar to the declining Warezov family of worms) enables spam to be sent from infected computers first appeared on 21st December and during a number of days accounted for more than 80% of all malicious email traffic.
Emm concludes with a prediction for what can be expected in the 2008 series of Online Scanner and Virus Top Twenty reports, "Trojan programs and phishing attacks will continue to top the tables more and more frequently in 2008. We also predict that the number of malicious programs designed to steal online gaming accounts will increase in our statistics. This class of malicious program is evolving steadily and will be one of the main threats in 2008."
The Online Scanner Top Twenty - December 2007
1 New Trojan.Win32.Dialer.yz 1.37%
2 - Virus.Win32.Virut.av 1.33%
3 - Email-Worm.Win32.Brontok.q 1.10%
4 +1 not-a-virus:PSWTool.Win32.RAS.a 1.01%
5 New Trojan.Win32.BHO.abo. 0.78%
6 +5 Virus.Win32.Virut.q 0.73%
7 New Trojan.Win32.Inject.mt 0.68%
8 -8 Trojan.Win32.Dialer.qn 0.66%
9 Return not-a-virus:Monitor.Win32.Perflogger.ca 0.64%
10 -4 Email-Worm.Win32.Rays. 0.63%
11 -1 not-a-virus:AdWare.Win32.BHO.cc 0.58%
12 New Trojan.Win32.VB.atg. 0.56%
13 +4 not-a-virus:AdWare.Win32.BHO.ic 0.53%
14 +4 Trojan-Spy.Win32.Ardamax.n 0.52%
15 New Virus.Win32.Virut.p 0.50%
16 Return not-a-virus:Monitor.Win32.Perflogger.ad 0.49%
17 New not-a-virus:AdWare.Win32.Virtumonde.bxd. 0.48%
18 -6 Packed.Win32.NSAnti.r 0.45%
19 -11 Trojan.Win32.Agent.cro 0.44%
20 New not-a-virus:Monitor.Win32.Perflogger.cb 0.44%
Other malicious programs 86.08%
The Virus Top Twenty - December 2007
1 Return Email-Worm.Win32.NetSky.q 20.03%
2 New Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Diehard.dc 11.64%
3 New Email-Worm.Win32.Warezov.xd 9.42%
4 New Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Diehard.db 7.94%
5 -5 Email-Worm.Win32.Scano.gen 7.42%
6 Return Email-Worm.Win32.Bagle.gt 7.41%
7 New Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Diehard.dd 6.15%
8 Return Email-Worm.Win32.NetSky.aa 5.81%
9 -5 Trojan-Spy.HTML.Fraud.ay 3.94%
10 Return Email-Worm.Win32.Nyxem.e 2.55%
11 Return Email-Worm.Win32.NetSky.d 2.29%
12 Return Net-Worm.Win32.Mytob.bt 1.88%
13 Return Email-Worm.Win32.Mydoom.l 1.69%
14 New Email-Worm.Win32.Scano.bn 1.62%
15 Return Email-Worm.Win32.Bagle.gen 1.59%
16 Return Email-Worm.Win32.NetSky.y 1.47%
17 Return Email-Worm.Win32.Bagle.dx 1.05%
18 -10 Email-Worm.Win32.LovGate.w 0.70%
19 -14 Net-Worm.Win32.Mytob.c 0.47%
20 -19 Net-Worm.Win32.Mytob.t 0.46%
Other malicious programs 4.47%
For further information regarding the December 2007 Kaspersky Lab Online Scanner Top Twenty and the Virus Top Twenty please visit: http://www.kaspersky.co.uk/news?id=207575603 and http://www.kaspersky.co.uk/news?id=207575602