BitDefender Lab's latest malware listhighlights common packing methods used by
hackers.
A variety of threats, rather than a
specific virus, features in the BitDefender Top 10 Malware List
for February 2008. When grouped together by BitDefender virus
detection engines, it was noted that all the threats used the same
packing method.
"Virus writers use packers to decrease the size of the virus and
to increase the cost of analysis - unpacking something packed in an
as-yet unknown manner takes a lot of time and skill," said Sorin
Dudea, head of BitDefender AV Research.
The Peed/Storm Trojan accounted for 16.88% of total detections,
a strong resurgence given its absence from the January Top 10
Malware List.
The "popularity" of the Windows WMF vulnerability decreased as
viruses using its signature accounted for 5.33% of total
detections.
Lower on the list are a host of much older mass mailer viruses,
on their way to irrelevancy, said BitDefender. These viruses
account for approximately 6% of total detections - more than half
of which are a result of
Netsky.P.
"By this point, I think it is safe to say that Netsky.P is the
most widespread mass mailer virus of all time," said Dudea.
BitDefender's February 2008 Top 10 malware list:
1. Packer.Malware.NSAnti.K 37.07%
2. Trojan.Peed.Gen 16.88%
3. Exploit.Win32.WMF-PFV 5.33%
4. BehavesLike:Trojan.Downloader 5.21%
5. Win32.Netsky.P@mm 3.36%
6. Win32.Parite.B 2.93%
7. Win32.NetSky.D@mm 0.92%
8. Win32.Netsky.AA@mm 0.88%
9. Win32.Nyxem.E@mm 0.69%
10. Trojan.Pandex.G 0.65%