In these times of economic lull, when company revenues and market shares are dipping, malware seems to be making brisk business. The number of computers worldwide in which malware crept in has risen by a whopping 600% this year over last year. And the financial services segment – where of course the money lies – seems to be the prime target. PandaLabs, a major security vendor, has revealed that hackers are making a steal with over 37,000 viruses and security threats emerging each day. Of this about 71% are “Trojans”, the type of malware that is created for identity theft.
Now, why are security walls falling easily to malware? Well, malware are viruses that sneak into computers and remain invisible to users. So, while you are making transactions over the Internet, your data and personal financial information is being captured unknowingly. Mostly, these malware are specifically designed to catch bank details, debit and credit card information, and password used during commercial transactions. Once the data is captured, these are sold in the black market for quick bucks. Many hackers also use the bank information to make huge purchases. Malware are creeping into online payment sites like PayPal, and e-commerce sites like amazon.com, ebay.com where user data may be stored.
Previously, firewalls were enough in most cases to ensure computer security but lately, hackers have found smarter ways with malware to breach perimeter security. Within an enterprise network, fraudsters often embed malware in centralized locations or distributed networks. An estimated 3% of computers users worldwide have faced malware attack. The distribution of malware has also become innovative. Malware are targeting social network sites like Facebook.com and Twitter.com, SMS networks, and using web page clones to entice users to enter personal information.
Analysts also point to the economic downturn as a reason to the rise of malware and identity theft. A lull in the economic pathway appears to have led to a flourish in black market ensuring a boom in malware spread.
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