The State of Malware
I've been spending a little more time looking at general computer and network security recently. One of the things I've been looking at is the current 'state of affairs' where malware is concerned. There's a lot going on out there, although as Gunnar Peterson says in a recent post at 1 Raindrop , not much has changed in the past 10 years. In fact, based on what follows, it's arguable that things are actually getting worse.
There are also regional differences that matter. Here in Thailand at least, the situation is exacerbated by the fact that it's still very common for personal computers to have illegal software installed - including Windows and other major applications (there are reasons, but that's a different story). There are of course other threats and concerns about safety and communication that matter, but for the most part, the biggest computer security risk here is from non-targeted malware.
I’ve never been a big fan of scaring people into taking security seriously (vs. education and support), but on this particular topic, ‘making and impression’ might help.
Here are a few of the sites and reports I’ve visited so far...
Is Malware Detection a Losing Race?
http://insights.wired.com/profiles/blogs/is-malware-detection-a-losing-race-a-deeper-look-into-soaksoak
2014 was the biggest year for malware yet
http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/decrypt-2014-biggest-year-malware-yet/
Kaspersky Security Bulletin 2014. Malware evolution
http://securelist.com/analysis/kaspersky-security-bulletin/68052/kaspersky-security-bulletin-2014-malware-evolution/
Infographic: McAfee Labs Threats Report — February 2015
http://www.mcafee.com/us/security-awareness/articles/mcafee-labs-threats-report-q4-2014.aspx
Infographic: McAfee Labs 2015 Threats Predictions
http://www.mcafee.com/us/security-awareness/articles/mcafee-labs-threats-predictions-2015.aspx
Verizon 2015 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR)
http://www.verizonenterprise.com/DBIR/
Microsoft Security Intelligence Report
http://blogs.microsoft.com/cybertrust/tag/microsoft-security-intelligence-report/
2015 State of the Endpoint Study
https://www.lumension.com/2015