According to German firm Gdata Security, the number of classic viruses and worms has decreased over the last year, but there has been a significant increase in new malware or malicious software such as Trojan downloaders, adware, spyware and backdoors .



Cyber criminals are increasingly focusing on generating revenue rather than being simply destructive

Effective security suites should combine virus protection,firewalls and anti-spam modules offering comprehensive solutions in one package.

It is essential that anyone on-line be adequately protected with firewalls and anti-viral software.

Although there may not have been many global outbreaks in recent months, the damaging activity continues under the radar to avoid easy detection.

Instead of mass mailings of uncontrollable worms and viruses, it appears that specific groups are being targeted via Bot networks.

Many data collectors operate thriving businesses selling e-mail addresses, credit card and financial account details.

They also obtain access data and users' surfing profiles,a using spyware and phishing, but have also adopted new methods.

The latest approach is to infiltrate call centres and companies which process large volumes of customer data with the intention of stealing and

selling the information.

Progress is being made with the apprehension and arrest of an Internet Telephony firm worker, who ran a botnet of more than 250000 PC's, spreading malware and stealing personal data.

The compromised computers were controlled through Internet Relay Chat commands, and stole information from PayPal accounts.

A Trojan dropper is usually started after a user unknowingly downloads a module, once started , the computer security settings are disabled and

the PC is now vulnerable to further attacks.

Once infected, your PC can now become part of a huge zombie army, that can be used for more destructive activity, such as sending spam.

The majority of malware consists of executable files or is based on script languages, such as Visual Basic or JavaScript.

Computers are increasingly being attacked by prepared images,audio files and documents.

More and more web applications which run without being installed in the browser such as is the case with AJAX, are being

developed under the Web 2.0 umbrella. Given the many new functions of these applications,security can easily be overlooked.

A high proportion of databases that house information can be hacked into with SQL injection

The growth of Web 2.0 is accompanied by an increasing likelihood that harmful code will be used to infect computers using these channels.

Harmful software is often offered as a direct download under a convincing pretext. The pretext could, for example, take the form of a Windows upgrade.

Security loopholes in browsers and browser components, such as graphics libraries, Flash, RealMedia and Quicktime,can also used to take control of computers

There are(Cross site scripting) XSS security loopholes in around four out of every ten web applications. With the spread of Web 2.0, they will increasingly be exploited by malware.

Checking your online virus protection:

This is a simple check which allows users to find out

whether their antivirus software can detect harmful

code on websites:

1. Open your browser

2. Enter the following URL:

http://www.eicar.org/download/eicar.com.txt

3. If the browser opens the page without problems and does not display a warning message, the PC does not have sufficient protection.

Popular social networking websites, where visitors can publish own content, are increasingly also being used to spread malware.

Myspace.com introduced users to over a million "friends" in a very short period

All surfers must have adequate protection against malware that includes the lastest patches and AV software that detects the latest signatures.

Download award winning spyware protection