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Anyone who owns a computer has probably heard what a virus is. Most with personal computers may even have their own units infected with one type of virus at one point or another. If you haven’t, it’s time you learn about it because this can destroy your data. Viruses are programs created to become a nuisance. The term encompasses all sorts of malicious software there is in the market. While some are totally destructive, most are annoying and can cause minor errors in the computer system.
Currently, the human population in this planet is now 6.9 billion. About one billion of its inhabitants, or 16.7 percent, owns or use a computer. Analysts project that by the end of this year it will double. With these figures in mind, let’s find out how many computers do viruses infect and what are the most prevalent or common viruses. As of June 2009, there are about 1.9 million computers which are infected with some type of adware or malware. This estimate is quite conservative considering the number of unreported cases in many parts of the world.
Position | Name | Number of infected computers |
| 1 | Net-Worm.Win32.Kido.ih | 58,200 |
| 2 | Virus.Win32.Sality.aa | 28,758 |
| 3 | Trojan-Dropper.Win32.Flystud.ko | 13,064 |
| 4 | Trojan-Downloader.Win32.VB.eql | 12,395 |
| 5 | Worm.Win32.AutoRun.dui | 8,934 |
| 6 | Trojan.Win32.Autoit.ci | 8,662 |
| 7 | Virus.Win32.Virut.ce | 6,197 |
| 8 | Worm.Win32.Mabezat.b | 5,967 |
| 9 | Net-Worm.Win32.Kido.jq | 5,934 |
| 10 | Virus.Win32.Sality.z | 5,750 |
| 11 | Trojan-Downloader.JS.LuckySploit.q | 4,624 |
| 12 | Virus.Win32.Alman.b | 4,394 |
| 13 | Packed.Win32.Black.a | 4,317 |
| 14 | 14 Net-Worm.Win32.Kido.ix | 4,284 |
| 15 | Worm.Win32.AutoIt.i | 4,189 |
| 16 | Trojan-Downloader.WMA.GetCodec.u | 4,064 |
| 17 | Packed.Win32.Klone.bj | 3,882 |
| 18 | Email-Worm.Win32.Brontok.q | 3,794 |
| 19 | Worm.Win32.AutoRun.rxx | 3,677 |
| 20 | not-a-virus:AdWare.Win32.Shopper.v | 3,430 |
Spreading Malware
Malware is short for malicious software. Why malicious? Because it infiltrates a computer system. What is the goal of malware? The general goal of a malware is to harvest DATA. It can be user login, passwords, credit card information, bank accounts or transactions or databases that are stored on your PC or web.
A few years ago, e-mail spam with promotional or news-related items were the most popular ways of introducing a malware. However, individuals and companies have strengthen their e-mail security, which made it e-mailing become less popular among hackers. Also, spam mails are not read anymore. They automatically go to the trash folder.
Security experts believe that malware developers have changed their ways or strategies in delivering their attacks. This time, they are spreading them through websites, using search links with bogus websites or click on icons of popular product advertisements like AV (anti-virus software), and also using events like the death of a popular artist or a popular movie that users would likely to download.
Position | Name | Number of infected websites |
| 1 | Trojan-Downloader.JS.Gumblar.a | 27103 |
| 2 | Trojan-Downloader.JS.Iframe.ayt | 14563 |
| 3 | Trojan-Downloader.JS.LuckySploit.q | 6975 |
| 4 | Trojan-Clicker.HTML.IFrame.kr | 5535 |
| 5 | Trojan-Downloader.HTML.IFrame.sz | 4521 |
| 6 | Trojan-Downloader.JS.Major.c | 4326 |
| 7 | Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Agent.cdam | 3939 |
| 8 | Trojan-Clicker.HTML.IFrame.mq | 3922 |
| 9 | Trojan.JS.Agent.aat | 3318 |
| 10 | Trojan.Win32.RaMag.a | 3302 |
| 11 | Trojan-Clicker.SWF.Small.b | 2894 |
| 12 | Packed.JS.Agent.ab | 2648 |
| 13 | Trojan-Downloader.JS.Agent.czm | 2501 |
| 14 | Exploit.JS.Pdfka.gu | 2441 |
| 15 | Trojan-Clicker.JS.Agent.fp | 2332 |
| 16 | Trojan-Dropper.Win32.Agent.aiuf | 2002 |
| 17 | Exploit.JS.Pdfka.lr | 1995 |
| 18 | not-a-virus:AdWare.Win32.Shopper.l | 1945 |
| 19 | not-a-virus:AdWare.Win32.Shopper.v | 1870 |
| 20 | Exploit.SWF.Agent.az | 1747 |
From the table, it can be seen that thousands of websites have or are being infected by one form of malware or another. This is an indication that their delivery has gone to harboring or posting websites to delivering the malicious software.
How do hackers spread malware from websites?
1. Using search engines and posing as legitimate products. All of us go to search engines to find out about something. Malware users and developer are now using tools that legitimate web administrators use in order to promote and get a good ranking for their websites in search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL.
SEO (Search engine Optimization) – A technique used by website administrators to improve the volume of traffic for their websites has also been used by malware propagators in the form of
Spamdexing,
link farmsand
keyword stuffing.
Paid Web Advertising – Criminals also pay to advertise their bogus websites that are packed with malwares. The advertisement could be a form of product to download or help the poor program.
2. Getting in to social networking websites and other popular websites.
One of the hottest trends in the Internet is the social networking websites like Facebook, Friendster, and Multiply. Facebook.com alone garnered 1,191,373,339 monthly visits this year. Plus, it is believed that most of the users are not security conscious. Very tempting for malware propagators to exploit. Their methods of attack:
- Post as a social networking website user and post malwares in the form of products or downloads.
- Post as a Facebook user who is known by a group and send message to see a Youtube link, which has been engineered to make users think that they need to update their flash application to view it. By the time the user clicks the update button, malware kicks-in and install a botnet, which not only infects the account but the entire server as well.
- Exploiting vulnerabilities of a CMS (Content Management System) website and others and then inserting malicious iframes. Inserting iframes is like loading one web page inside another. To conceal its presence, it is often a very small piece of code that is not visible from the browser. What most iframes do is redirect unwary users to malware sites.
