14 DAY TRIAL // The report issued by Kaspersky's research team highlights the incidents and events that best represent October 2011. Duqu, new Mac OS X threats and mobile threats, all take the podium in the latest study.
The data collected by the experts shows that in the past month 72 million web-borne infections were prevented and 205 million pieces of malware were detected and neutralized.
The discovery of Duqu was one of the major events that shadowed October, its discovery by Hungarian security experts from CrySys making the whole industry wonder if Stuxnet has returned.
The scandal that broke out in Germany also takes the spotlight, the backdoor virus used by the government making headlines all over the world. Even though authorities claim the so-called tool was used within the law, many voices claim that the software could do a whole lot more than just pick up on conversations.
When it comes to mobile malware, Android took the lead (47%), followed closely by J2ME (40%). Windows mobile platforms were only targeted by 2% of the malicious elements detected in the past 30 days.
The Bitcoin stealing DevilRobber is also mentioned, its high capabilities making it one of the worst pieces of malware that hit OS X devices. The increase in numbers and power of such malevolent elements seems to be directly linked to the growing popularity of Apple computers.
The fact that Japan is highly targeted by hackers is also mentioned in the report, in the last month many of their state institutions being infected with information-stealing Trojans.
The numbers reveal that Malicious URLs represented 82% of the threats from the internet, this category also featuring some new players such as the AdWare.Shopper and Trojan.Popupper.
The sources of malware didn't change much, the US still being number one. Russia is still on top of the chart, but Germany and the Netherlands also host their share of malicious sources, Armenia and Belarus being among the first when it comes to launching attacks on computers.