F-Secure Security Wrap-up For Q209

Highlights in this quarter include President Barack Obama’s major speech on cyber security, the huge interest in the Conficker worm and social networking sites, as well as growth in PDF exploits.

President Obama puts spotlight on cyber security

“So cyberspace is real. And so are the risks that come with it.” These were the words of President Barack Obama on May 29, 2009, as he announced a new strategy to secure America’s information and communications networks. F-Secure welcomes the fact that the United States is taking cyber security seriously on the national level. As a strong advocate of establishing ‘Internetpol’, F-Secure is committed to international cooperation and would also like to see a focus on developing an offensive capability against online criminals.

Conficker worm

The threat landscape in the first half of 2009 has been dominated by the Conficker worm, which has proved to be the most significant malware outbreak in recent years. The Conficker Working Group’s collaboration has been a great success and an example of international co-operation within the Internet security industry.

Conficker created a great deal of media interest especially around April 1, 2009, when the Conficker C variant was due to activate. In fact, it was the Conficker B variant, which spread most widely and infected millions of computers worldwide. The Conficker case once again demonstrated the emotional interest in virus outbreaks. Despite the subsequent loss of media interest, the Conficker worm is still out there and there are no answers as to what it was designed to do.

News, tweets and malware

Social networking websites have continued to grow in the first half of 2009, which makes them increasingly attractive targets. The first Twitter worm and spam outbreak occurred in April, created by a hobbyist calling himself Mikeyy. With online criminals quickly seizing the opportunity, Google searches for ‘Twitter worm’ or ‘Mikeyy’ soon led people to malware sites. Malicious search results about popular news stories are very common. More than ever, social networking sites are both making the news and breaking the news – and in the process creating fast-spreading security problems that need to be addressed.

PDF files used for targeted attacks

F-Secure’s research shows that PDF files have become the most popular file type in targeted attacks during the first half of 2009. Last year, the most commonly used file type for targeted attacks was Microsoft Word’s DOC. Adobe has responded with a quarterly response cycle due to the growth in PDF exploits.