<\/p>\n
January at a glance: Vicious and Varied<\/strong> One outbreak of specific interest, consisting of 7 variants, illustrates how viruses are growing in sophistication: the first variant was launched around December 25th as a low intensity virus, however with subsequently released variants the attack’s intensity grew into a massive outbreak towards the end of the month.<\/p>\n The biggest virus attacks are the quickest & fast-moving solutions required<\/strong> Computer virus statistics from the Commtouch Detection Center indicate that 40% of attacks during January met this profile. Also, there is a clear connection between the attack’s speed and its intensity & the faster attacks are the biggest ones: while the average distribution time of low intensity attacks is a ‘leisurely’\u009d 27 hours and medium-intensity attacks can take 17 hours, massive attacks take as little as 5.5 hours to spread in hundreds of millions of emails.<\/p>\n “The conclusion is clear” adds Lev. “Without a reliable solution for early hour protection that complements the old fashion anti-virus solutions, users are unprotected from the most massive attacks.”<\/p>\n Anti-virus engine statistics & is your AV up for the challenge?<\/strong> – On average, each AV completely missed 6.2 viruses (the attack was completed, and a signature was not yet available). “The data should be of great concern to AV vendors and IT managers alike,” said Lev. “An eight hour response spells a simple truth & a traditional AV solution does not stand a chance against massive attacks that end before a signature is even released.”<\/p>\n Spam is physically sent primarily from the US<\/strong> <\/p>\n
\nThe numbers are indeed concerning: 19 new email-born significant virus attacks, of which a troubling 8 (42%) were graded “low intensity”, 7 (37%) “Medium Intensity” and 4 (21%) were massive attacks & a rare phenomenon for a single month.<\/p>\n
\nOne of the factors measured by Commtouch is the speed of distribution. We consider attacks that peak within eight hours to have “short spans”, since it takes an average of 8-10 hours for a traditional anti-virus vendor to release an updated signature blocking a new virus.<\/p>\n
\nBased in part on a reliable third party lab test, Commtouch was able to compare detection times of 21 leading AV engines against 19 new viruses in January. The results:<\/p>\n
\n– The average response time to new viruses among all AV engines was 8.12 hours.<\/p>\n
\nThe Commtouch Detection Center monitors spam distribution patterns on a global level. January spam statistics show that 43.18% of global spam is sent from US-based sources (down from approximately 50%). China is also a significant ‘launching pad’ for 12.89% of the spam. Korean and German sources distribute about 4% of global spam, and the rest of spam originates from around the globe.<\/p>\n