The antivirus sweated
According to statistics from Eset Software's global virus monitoring system, the Win32 / Stration worm caused the most infections in October. The pathogen mutates very rapidly, with more than 50 variants becoming known in one month.
Case NOD32 antivirus system publishes a list of the most common internet pathogens every month. The interesting thing about the statistics is that thanks to the global ThreatSense.Net virus monitoring system developed by the company, based on the voluntary provision of user data, it registers not only viruses attached to e-mails, but also those that enter users' computers during simple browsing.
According to data, the Stration worm, released in Thailand on September 26, was the most devastating. The classic worm, which is responsible for 4,15% of infections, disguises itself as a security update and spreads attached to emails. Stration is able to disable the permanent protection of some non-updated anti-virus software, which significantly speeds up its spread and makes infected computers vulnerable to other viruses.
In the footsteps of the first place is the Swizzor Trojan, which is responsible for 3,07% of October infections. This pathogen topped the top list throughout the first half of the year and was only pushed back after July. Swizzor not only spreads by attaching to emails, but can also get on users ’computers while browsing. When the pathogen is activated, it installs various spyware on your computer. Because Swizzor uses an auto-generating routine for reproduction, it is likely to change itself with each download. As a result, thousands of variants of the pathogen are created daily, drawing attention to the importance of proactive virus protection based on heuristics.
In third place on the October top list is another Trojan, Small.KJ, which accounts for 2,37% of last month’s infections. After the pathogen settles, it tries to download various executable files from the Internet, allowing the virus's creators to take control of the infected machines.
In fourth place on the list is Win32 / Adware.Boran, the new contender. This unwanted adware adds various buttons to Internet Explorer and displays unwanted pop-up ads on users' computers. In fifth place is Win32 / Netsky.Q, which has been present for more than a year. The worm, which also uses file-sharing networks, is one of the most common pathogens of all time and still shows no signs of fatigue.
In sixth place are the Win32 / TrojanDownloader.Zlob trojans, which mostly spread on underground websites and disguise themselves as hacking or media coding packages. Seventh place went to Win32 / Adware.DM, which also adds additional buttons to Internet Explorer. An adware program called DesktopMedia installed by the pathogen can slow down your computer's performance.
Finally, in the last three positions of the October top list, we find a worm (Win32 / Brontok.A), an adware (Win32 / Adware.180Solutions) and a password-stealing Trojan (Win32 / PWS.Lineage.DN).
