35 Million Computers Infected With Rogueware Each Month

[Peaches]

PandaLabs: 35 Million Computers Infected With Rogueware Each Month

Rogueware is being distributed through Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Digg, and targeted blackhat SEO attacks

Aug 13, 2009 | 10:33 AM

London, August 13, 2009: PandaLabs, Panda Security's malware analysis and detection laboratory, announce the general availability of a multi-year study that examines the proliferation of rogueware into the overall cybercriminal economy. The report, "The Business of Rogueware," by PandaLabs researchers, Luis Corrons and Sean-Paul Correll, reviews the various forms of rogueware that have been created, and displays how this new class of malware has become an instrumental player in the overall cybercriminal economy. The study also provides in depth analysis on the increasingly sophisticated social engineering techniques used by cybercriminals to distribute rogueware via Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Google.

Rogueware consists of any kind of fake software solution that attempts to steal money from PC users by luring them into paying to remove nonexistent threats. PandaLabs predicts that it will record more than 637,000 new rogueware samples by the end of Q3 2009, a tenfold increase in less than a year.

Approximately 35 million computers are newly infected with rogueware each month (approximately 3.50 percent of all computers), and cybercriminals are earning approximately $34 million per month through rogueware attacks.

More details at darkreading - http://www.darkreading.com/security/vulner...ies+and+threats