Commtouch Software Ltd. (MM) (NASDAQ:CTCHD)
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Commtouch® (Nasdaq:CTCHD) today released its 2007
Q4 Email Threats Trend Report, based on the automated analysis of
billions of email messages weekly. The report examines recent trends in
email threats such as the growth and development of zombie botnets that
disseminate a range of Internet threats including spam, malware,
phishing and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
Highlights of the report include:
Global spam levels remain high, reaching 96% of all email at its peak
during the quarter
Blended threats combined email, malware and malicious websites
“Storm Worm”
botnet caused numerous outbreaks throughout the quarter, including
several new spam formats and blended-threat emails
70% of spam messages at the end of Q4 featured sexual enhancement
products
Storm Botnet: Massive, Cunning and Aggressive
Throughout Q4 the so-called “Storm Worm”
botnet was responsible for numerous outbreaks, including MP3 spam, in
which an audio stock pump-and-dump message was distributed as an .mp3
email attachment. During outbreak peaks, MP3 spam accounted for 7-10% of
all global spam.
Like all botnets, Storm is made up of a massive global network of PCs
infected with malware that gives the botmaster remote control. Though
end-users are not likely to notice they have been infected, the
botmaster can use the hijacked computing power to generate and send spam
and malware, host malicious websites, and even perform DDoS attacks.
Traditional anti-spam, anti-virus and IP blocking technologies are
unable to keep pace with the dynamic activation and deactivation of the
endless number of dynamic IPs.
“Botnets were the culprits in all types of
malicious activity during 2007,” said Amir
Lev, Commtouch’s president and chief
technology officer. “Zombies and in particular
the Storm botnet are so cunning about hiding their control channels, the
only effective way to protect against them is to dynamically detect and
block malicious zombie IP addresses.”
Holiday-related Threats Sour the Season
Q4 was particularly hard-hit by wave after wave of holiday-themed email
threats. From October through New Year’s,
cyber criminals took advantage of goodwill and celebratory moods to slip
past security solutions and into inboxes. Halloween ushered in the
season with a blended-threat campaign promising an entertaining “dancing
skeleton,” but instead delivered users to a
malicious website that infected them with malware. Next a Thanksgiving
spam outbreak was sent with Subject lines offering everything from dates
to diets. Christmas delivered a holiday-themed blended-threat email
including a link to a site that attempted to download new variants of
the Storm malware.
More details, including samples of spam and blended-threat email
containing malware and links to malicious websites, are available in the Commtouch
2007 Q4 Email Threats Trend Report, available from Commtouch Labs
at: http://www.commtouch.com/downloads/Commtouch_2007_Q4_Email_Threats.pdf
NOTE: Reported global spam levels are the ratio of Internet email
traffic as measured from unfiltered data streams, not including internal
corporate traffic. Therefore global spam levels will differ from the
quantities reaching end user inboxes, due to several possible layers of
filtering at the ISP level.
About Commtouch
Commtouch Software Ltd. (NASDAQ:CTCHD) is dedicated to protecting and
preserving the integrity of the world's most important communications
tool -- e-mail. Commtouch has over 16 years of experience developing
messaging software and is a global developer and provider of proprietary
anti-spam, Zero-Hour virus protection and Reputation Service solutions.
Using core technologies including RPD (Recurrent Pattern Detection™),
the Commtouch Detection Center analyzes billions of email messages per
week to identify new spam and malware outbreaks within minutes of their
introduction into the Internet. Integrated by scores of OEM partners,
Commtouch technology protects thousands of organizations, with hundreds
of millions of users in over 100 countries. Commtouch is headquartered
in Netanya, Israel, and has a subsidiary in Sunnyvale, Calif. For more
information, see: http://www.commtouch.com.
The site includes the Commtouch online lab detailing spam statistics and
charts.
Recurrent Pattern Detection, RPD, Zero-Hour and GlobalView are
trademarks, and Commtouch is a registered trademark, of Commtouch
Software Ltd. U.S. Patent No. 6,330,590 is owned by Commtouch.