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Malware writers have been at it again, this time infecting inboxes with
tabloid-style Subject lines like “230 dead as
storm batters Europe” and “First
nuclear act of terrorism!” Commtouch (Nasdaq:
CTCH) reported today.
“We expect an escalation in spam post-Storm,”
predicts Commtouch CTO Amir Lev. “The malware
is distributed to set up a network of infected zombie computers, which
can then be used to launch massive spam campaigns.”
By creating Subject lines that sound just plausible enough like, “hugo
chavez dead” and attachments with names like “full
clip.exe” and “read
more.exe,” malware writers are able to lure
unwary recipients into clicking on an executable file attached to an
email message, using a technique known as social engineering.
The “Storm” worm –
named as such because it leveraged the major European storm in its
subject line – contains a staggering number
of distinct, low-volume variants, which were released from multiple
sources simultaneously and successively, and at short time intervals.
This outbreak seems to follow the trend developed in 2006 with malwares
such as Stration/Warezov, Feebs, Scanio, Tibs/Nuwar, and others.
“In addition to using Subject lines based on
current events, this server-side polymorphic worm consists of thousands
of distinct variants, ranging from just a few instances (copies of the
same code in recurrent messages), to very high volumes of instances per
variant,” said Haggai Carmon, Commtouch Vice
President of Products. “By distributing so
many variants simultaneously, the malware distributors overwhelm
signature-based anti-virus engines, effectively guaranteeing that they
will not block them.”
Commtouch identified and blocked over 5,000 distinct variants during the
first four days of the “Storm”
worm activity, and there were time periods during those days when the
malware accounted for nearly 17% of all global Internet email traffic.
“Malware writers know they have limited time
before an AV signature or heuristic will be created to block any
mass-distributed malware, so they break the outbreak into thousands of
variants and distribute in smaller numbers of instances to maximize
infection,” Carmon said. “Once
AV engines battled to get a signature out within the first few hours of
the outbreak, now the hard truth is that even these signatures are now
becoming ineffective to protect against the first wave of each new
variant. In the time it takes to write and distribute each new
signature, thousands of newer variants are launched against which the
signature does not protect.”
Commtouch Zero-Hour™ Virus Outbreak
Protection detects and blocks email-borne outbreaks like the “Storm”
malware in real-time, powered by its Recurrent Pattern Detection™
technology. Commtouch’s service is offered to
messaging, security and anti-virus vendors for OEM integration as a
complementary outbreak detection solution.
About Commtouch
Commtouch Software Ltd. (Nasdaq: CTCH) is dedicated to protecting and
preserving the integrity of the world's most important communications
tool -- email. Commtouch has over 15 years of experience developing
messaging software and is a global developer and provider of proprietary
anti-spam, Zero-Hour virus protection and IP Reputation solutions. Using
core technologies including RPD (Recurrent Pattern Detection™),
the Commtouch Detection Center analyzes billions of email messages per
month to identify new spam and malware outbreaks within minutes of their
introduction into the Internet. Integrated by more than 50 OEM partners,
Commtouch technology protects thousands of organizations, with over 50
million users in over 100 countries. Commtouch is headquartered in
Netanya, Israel, and has a subsidiary in Mountain View, CA. For more
information, see: www.commtouch.com,
including the Commtouch online lab detailing spam statistics and charts.
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including
projections about Commtouch business, within the meaning of Section 27A
of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934. For example, statements in the future tense, and statements
including words such as "expect," "plan," "estimate," "anticipate," or
"believe" are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on
information available to us at the time of the release; we assume no
obligation to update any of them. The statements in this release are not
guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ
materially from our current expectations as a result of numerous
factors, including business conditions and growth or deterioration in
the Internet market, commerce and the general economy, both domestic as
well as international; fewer than expected new-partner relationships;
competitive factors, including pricing pressures; technological
developments, and products offered by competitors; the ability of our
OEM partners to successfully penetrate markets with products integrated
with Commtouch technology; a slower than expected acceptance rate for
our newer product offerings; availability of qualified staff for
expansion; and technological difficulties and resource constraints
encountered in developing new products, as well as those risks described
in the text of this press release and the company's Annual Reports on
Form 20-F and reports on Form 6-K, which are available through www.sec.gov.
Recurrent Pattern Detection, RPD and Zero-Hour are trademarks, and
Commtouch is a registered trademark, of Commtouch Software Ltd. U.S.
Patent No. 6,330,590 is owned by Commtouch.