14 DAY TRIAL // 2008 is that kind of year that will come with numerous new computer infections, which may address some unexploited sides of our systems, Panda Security said in a forecast rolled out today. If Mac OS X is one of the secure operating systems available out there, the things are going to be changed anytime soon, the experts believe. More and more threats will target Mac systems and VoIP technologies, the platforms that were often avoided by infections and attacks are about to become scammers' favorite targets.
Moreover, a major increase may be recorded in the bank attacks, as the virus writers seem to create lots of banking Trojan supposed to steal users' credentials. This way, they would access financial information and steal people's money extremely easy. In the recent period, there have been multiple cases when the hackers revealed new techniques meant to hide their identity and make their malicious activities more difficult to be discovered.
"The current platforms will not be the only ones under attack. As systems like iphone, gphone, etc., become more popular among users, malware creators will start to use them to spread their creations and obtain benefits", Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs, said.
In addition, most malware writers may rely on remote controlling, rather than on IRC or HTTP protocols, because this gives them a better control over the affected system.
"This is cyber-crooks' way of ensuring the success of their malicious activities, as this type of system allows communications to be encrypted, making detection harder", the Panda Security official added.
So, it looks like this is that time of the year when we should start our antivirus engines, update them and apply the latest patches on our systems. It is extremely important to keep our application secure and away from vulnerability exploits. Only if you want to be on the safe side.