Double the trojans, half the worms

This trend has not only continued in 2006, but has also become increasingly apparent. Trojans already represent 47,8% of all new malware detected, with worms only accounting for 17,1%.
 
“Trojans are an extremely versatile type of malware, as they can be designed to carry out a wide variety of malicious actions without users noticing.

"In this way, they can create backdoors that cyber-crooks can use to control other computers remotely, steal data entered by users to access Web services, or even make changes to the system in order to take users to fake Web sites designed to steal personal data,” says Jeremy Matthews, MD of Panda Software SA, who adds

“Other types of malware, such as worms, usually have very visible actions, which draw the attention of the media as well as users, who immediately try to remove them from their systems.

"This is why this type of malware is not suitable for today’s cyber-crooks, who are looking for financial returns above all.
 
“In addition, malware authors are not only concentrating their efforts on creating threats that provide financial returns, but also on distributing them in such a way that users will not notice.

"For instance, there is a growing number of Web sites designed to take advantage of vulnerabilities to introduce malware on the computers of users visiting them.
 
“At this moment it is necessary to complement traditional anti-virus programs with proactive protection technologies capable of detecting malware without previously identifying it.

"Creators of malicious code know that it takes a few hours for security companies to come up with a vaccine to neutralise a new malware specimen once it is first reported.