Surprised ! Then read on. Malware writers are becoming more professional day by day and in 2007, mass virus/worm/trojan outbreaks will be a thing of the past, a reputed anti-virus expert predicts.
Dave Marcus, security research manager at anti-virus firm Avert research labs of McAfee said that the industry is seeing evidence of the rise of professional and organised crime in malware creation, where development teams are creating malicious software, testing it and automating its production ensuring a quality release ! Result? A heavily tested robust malware capable of combating any modern security software.
He said that 35 per cent of all malware samples ever discovered had been collected in the last two years alone.
This speaks volumes about what malware writers are up to. There are hardly any mass outbreaks, such as Sasser, anymore, said Marcus. These cause too much attention. Malware has simply become a way to make money. It has taken virus authors in a different direction.
He also said there would be a big change in the way botnets operated. Traditionally, botnets have worked through compromised computers receiving commands via ICQ. But Marcus said that botmasters are starting to use instant messaging applications and peer to peer networks to propagate and control bots.
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