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Users Threaten by Spammed Trojans

According to a security company, more than 70% of all the new computer threats that users faced in August, were spammed Trojan horses. The U.K.-based company, Sophos, spotted nearly 2,000 new exploits during the month of August. A competitor security firm McAfee confirmed the trend toward one-off Trojans, which don`t duplicate on their own, or infect other systems through new malicious e-mail messages, and a corresponding decrease in traditional worms.

Trojans, unlike the worms, do not spread slowly, but rather are increasingly blasted out in high-volume, short-lived spam campaigns. "Spam runs of these [Trojans] occur within just a day, or at the most, two," said McAfee in an online research note. "This gives the spammer enough time to reach a multitude of inbox[es], and just enough time before the majority of AV [anti-virus] vendors can release signatures to detect the new critter."

Three recent Trojans were highlighted by McAfee - Yabe.r, Dloader.dhx, and Haxdoor.il. The first was spammed into users` inboxes in a two-day period of July 4-5, while the other two each came and went within a day. "Spammed malwares are dominating the current threat landscape," said McAfee representative. "As the number of mass mailers go down, expect to see more and more spammed Trojans."