Friday, 1 February 2008

Study: Rise & Fall of Malware Attack in Tandem with Time Zones

IT security and control firm Sophos has identified a trend of spam email traffic peaking in accordance with time zones across the world.

According to a study, spam emails luring unsuspecting users to infection by the Storm (or Dorf) Trojan accounted for four per cent of total email traffic in January, with peaks in traffic occurring three times in any 24 hour period - as computers in Beijing, London and New York come online.

At its most prolific this month, malicious Storm spam accounted for 16 per cent, or one in six, of all emails.

“The gang controlling the Storm botnet is clearly determined; the spam emails which spread the malware are tailored to grab your attention by referring to timely events such as Valentine's Day or breaking news stories,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

“The large number of compromised PCs in Asia, Europe and USA kickstart a new barrage of malicious spam as they are turned on at approximately 10am each morning.”

In 2007, over 50,000 variants of the Storm Trojan were identified by SophosLabs, and with the hackers spamming out new versions so regularly, it is imperative that all businesses ensure their spam and anti malware solutions are proactively defended and up to the task of stopping both known and unknown malware before it can wreak havoc.

“Not only do computers need to be protected from this malicious spam, designed to break into their PC and hand control over to financially-motivated hackers, but they also need to be properly defended to make sure that they are not responsible for sending the spam in the first place,” continued Cluley.

“The entire internet community is suffering because people have not properly defended their PCs from unknowingly contributing to the problem. Storm is an evolving problem for businesses, computer users and service providers around the world, who all need to act now in order to curb its spread.”

Sophos recommends companies protect themselves with a consolidated solution which can control network access and defend against the threats of spam, hackers, spyware and viruses.