Duncan MacMalware, the New Online Highlander

The pieces of malware used to compromise websites tend to become some sort of online highlander as they remain available longer than anytime before, security company ScanSafe revealed in a study published today. According to the findings, in the second half of the last year, the malware implemented into online websites remained available for approximately 29 days which represents a 62 percent increase. The first half of the year brought an availability period of only 18 days, which underlines the fact that today's malware is more powerful than the one created in the past.

Moreover, the websites which got attacked and compromised by zero-day malware remained online for approximately 61 days (two months or so), while in the first half of the year the period was only of 21 days. This means the availability period grew up with no less than 190 percent, according to the study.

"The numbers speak for themselves," says Mary Landesman, senior security researcher, ScanSafe. "Not only has there been a significant increase in known malware, but on average, zero-day or ‘new’ threats accounted for 21 percent of all the malware ScanSafe blocked. Further, this malware is remaining active on sites for weeks and in some cases months, leaving users exposed and representing a huge window of opportunity for cyber criminals."

The malware reports have always been popular subjects on the news websites around the globe and they should be this way because people have to know what happens and how can they protect their computers. Today for instance, we got a Euro 2008 ticket-selling website which got compromised by some sort of malware and attempted to infect people's computers.

I guess there's no need to tell you anymore that security software solutions are always welcomed and that it's recommended to keep them up to date with the latest virus definitions in order to protect your computer at full power...

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