BitDefender Report Finds China and Russia Produce More Than 50% of Internet Threats

BUCHAREST, Romania (I-Newswire) June 17, 2011 - BitDefender®, an award-winning provider of innovative internet security solutions, announces the publication of its H1 2011 E-Threat Landscape Report, a comprehensive study regarding worldwide malware, spam and phishing trends. In terms of producing and hosting malware, China is found to be number one, accounting for more than 31 percent, followed by Russia with almost 22 percent and Brazil with more than 8 percent.

The report presents an in-depth analysis of the security threat landscape over the last six months, between January and June 2011, and also provides predictions for the coming months. The countries most affected by threats are France and the United States, which account for more than 25 percent of the global malware incidents logged by BitDefender. During the first six months of 2011, more than 500,000 computers in France have been exposed to various families of malware, ranging from average rogue antivirus scanners to devastating malware such as the Sality or Downadup families.

“The study surveys the most critical aspects of data security in conjunction with the internet use, social networking and recent major corporate breaches”, says Catalin Cosoi, Head of Online Threats Lab at BitDefender. “BitDefender predictions for the rest of this year are that mobile malware will increase with 400%. On top of that we estimate a 30% increase of the unique samples of PC malware to the end of the year. Most of these e-threats will be related to the emergence of the first technical previews of Windows 8. In terms of botnets and corporate security we are expecting at least one major data breach per month in the next future “concluded Cosoi.

Another important conclusion of the research is that 50 percent of the most important malware threats distributed worldwide consisted of Trojans. Furthermore, casino spam is on the rise as the Sality-supported Maazben botnet increases. In terms of social engineering scams, the top phished institutions and services during the first half of the year are PayPal, eBay and World of Warcraft.

The study was conducted through BitDefender worldwide users, and surveys the most critical aspects of data security in conjunction with internet use, social networking and recent major corporate breaches.

The full report is available here

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About BitDefender:
About BitDefender®

BitDefender is the creator of one of the industry's fastest and most effective lines of internationally certified internet security software. Since 2001, BitDefender has been an industry pioneer, introducing and developing award-winning protection technologies. Every day, BitDefender secures the digital experience of tens of millions of home and corporate users across the globe. BitDefender solutions are distributed by a global network of value-added distribution and reseller partners in countries across the world.

Recently, the company has won a range of key independent recommendations in the US, UK and across Europe, including ConsumerSearch, Which?, Stiftung Warentest and Taenk. BitDefender antivirus technology has also finished top in leading industry tests from both AV Test and AV-Comparatives. More information about BitDefender and its products is available from the company’s security solutions press room. Additionally, BitDefender publishes Malware City providing the latest updates on security threats and helping users stay informed in the everyday battle against malware.

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