McAfee Threats Report: Third Quarter 2012-1st Section

The McAfee Labs has studied the security threats of the third quarter of 2012 in a report. The following report is briefing that report.

Mobile Malware

The Android platform remains the largest target for both mobile malware and spyware. In fact, we see very few mobile threats that are not directed at Android phones. After a slight decline earlier in the year, Android malware has rebounded and almost doubled this quarter compared with the second quarter.

Although a good portion of new threats are commercial spyware, botnets and other advanced malware also abound. Botnets such as Android/Funsbot.A and Android/Backscript.A and advanced downloaders such as Android/MarketPay.A were some of the notable malware for the quarter.

General Malware Threats

Growth in malware slowed this quarter, yet the overall number in our malware “zoo” still topped 100 million samples, as we predicted earlier this year.

As last quarter, rootkits remain a troubling threat. The common rootkit TDSS is trending downward while Koutodoor has risen and fallen this year. Rootkits, or stealth malware, are one of the nastiest classifications of malware we see. They are designed to evade detection and thus “live” on a system for prolonged periods.

The total number of AutoRun, fake AV, and password-stealing Trojans continues to grow, while Koobface, malware that targets Facebook users, is declining.