Analysts with F-Secure and Websense predict an explosive growth of malware, bot attacks, QuickTime exploits, and viruses that target the iPhone..
At the start of 2007, computer security firm F-Secure had about 250,000 malware signatures in its database, the result of almost 20 years of antivirus research. Now, near the end of 2007, the company has about 500,000 malware signatures.
“We added as many detections this year as for the previous 20 years combined,” said Patrik Runald, security response manager at F-Secure.
F-Secure’s report on 2007 threats isn’t a pretty picture. Beyond the explosive growth of malware, the year also saw the emergence of the Storm worm, a catch-all term for a series of related backdoor Trojans and e-mail worms that have been distributed to create a massive peer-to-peer botnet.
Shortly, F-secure expects the gang behind the Storm worm to open its botnet for business, renting access to other cyber criminals.
The F-Secure report also notes that Trojans that steal online bank login information and Trojans that steal passwords from online games became more popular in 2007 and will likely continue to do so in 2008. Runald notes that F-Secure is detecting 10 to 40 new variants of banking Trojans every day.
