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New AVG Technologies Threat Report Reveals Pre-Teen Children Developing Malicious Code
AMSTERDAM & SAN FRANCISCO --(Business Wire)--
AVG
Technologies N.V. (NYSE: AVG), the provider of Internet and mobile
security to 143 million customers, today released its Q4 2012 Community
Powered Threat Report Q4
2012 Community Powered Threat Report. This quarter's report
investigates a number of malicious software developments, including the
case of a Trojan developed by an 11-year-old child to steal game login
information.
Pre-teens turning to malware
In a world filled with laptops, tablets and smartphones, today's
children become digitally fluent far earlier than previous generations.
Now, AVG has found evidence that pre-teens are writing malware designed
to steal login details from online gamers, both young and old.
While stealing someone's game logins may at first seem a minor problem,
online gaming accounts are often connected to credit card details to
enable in-game purchases, and may also have virtual currency attached to
them amounting to hundreds of dollars. Furthermore, many gamers
unfortunately use the same login details for social networks such as
Facebook and Twitter (News - Alert), potentially putting the victim at risk of
cyber-bullying, in addition to identity theft and major inconvenience.
"We have now seen a number of examples of very young individuals writing
malware, including an 11-year-old from Canada," said Yuval Ben-Itzhak,
Chief Technology Officer at AVG Technologies. "The code usually takes
the form of a basic Trojan written using the .NET (News - Alert) framework, which is
easy to learn for beginners and simple to deploy via a link in an email
or posted on a social media page."
"We believe these junior programmers are motivated mainly by the thrill
of outwitting their peers, rather than financial gain, but it is
nevertheless a disturbing and increasing trend. It is also logical to
assume that at least some of those responsible will be tempted to
experiment with much more serious cyber-crimes." (Find more information
on page 19 of the report).
Mobile threats continue to rise
The Q4 Threat Report also highlights the dramatic and ongoing increase
in mobile malware, particularly of code designed to target Google's
hugely popular Android (News - Alert) operating system. During the course of 2012, AVG
Threat Labs reported on the
First Android Rootkit, examples of mobile
banking being targeted for attack, malicious apps that send text
messages to premium
rate services, and Trojan-infected versions of popular games on
unofficial app stores, including bestseller Angry
Birds Space.
Mobile threats also feature in the Threat Report's predictions for 2013,
notably in the form of increased MITMO
(Man-In-The-Mobile) attacks that target PC and mobile internet
banking apps. Such threats might benefit from the growing BYOD trend,
where workers connect their personal mobile devices to company networks.
Continued exploitation
Alongside the rise in mobile malware, the Threat Labs found exploit
toolkits continue to dominate when it comes to online threats. Almost 60
per cent of all threat activity online was performed by exploit toolkits
in 2012. The use of such kits is believed to be the result of
established cyber-criminals realizing that they can create and sell
commercial toolkits at a premium to less technically savvy peers eager
to get into the market. One example of a new exploit toolkit which
emerged during the last quarter of 2012, and bore a remarkable
resemblance to the Blackhole Exploit Kit, was the Cool Toolkit. This new
toolkit accounted for 16 per cent of the top web threats in Q4 2012,
topped only by Blackhole at 40 per cent.
Find other Community Powered Threat Reports at: Community
Powered Threat Reports
Keep up to date with our regular threat bulletins on the AVG
News & Threats blog.
About the report:
The AVG Community Protection Network is an online neighborhood watch,
where community members work to protect each other. Information about
the latest threats is collected from customers who participate in the
product improvement program and shared with the community to make sure
everyone receives the best possible protection.
The AVG Community Powered Threat Report is based on the Community
Protection Network traffic and data collected from participating AVG
users over a three-month period, followed by analysis by AVG. It
provides an overview of web, mobile devices, spam risks and threats. All
statistics referenced are obtained from the AVG Community Protection
Network.
AVG has focused on building communities that help millions of online
participants support each other on computer security issues and actively
contribute to AVG's research efforts.
About AVG Technologies (NYSE: AVG)
AVG's mission is to simplify, optimize and secure the Internet
experience, providing peace of mind to a connected world. AVG's powerful
yet easy-to-use software and online services put users in control of
their Internet experience. By choosing AVG's software and services,
users become part of a trusted global community that benefits from
inherent network effects, mutual protection and support. AVG has grown
its user base to 143 million active users as of September 30, 2012 and
offers a product portfolio that targets the consumer and small business
markets and includes Internet security, PC performance optimization,
online backup, mobile security, identity protection and family safety
software.
www.avg.com
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