Malware rises as stock market falls, claims report
Published: 23 Oct 2008 11:11 BST
PandaLabs reported on Wednesday of a direct correlation between the recent stock-market declines and increases in targeted cyberattacks.
For instance, while the US stock market saw declines between 1 September and 9 October, the volume of malware threats grew, doubling to more than 24,000 per day between 8 September and 10 September alone, and to more than 30,000 per day on 16 September.
The recent malware spikes could be due to the fact that cybercriminals now have fewer possible targets following consolidation in the banking industry, and the perception of instability in the financial community could be causing panic even within the cyber-underground, PandaLabs said.
"Cybercriminals have to increase their activity to reach more users with campaigns designed to put money directly into their pockets, especially during times of economic instability," Ryan Sherstobitoff, chief corporate evangelist for Panda Security, said in a statement. "For example, we have seen a surge in the number of fake-antivirus-software scams that trick unsuspecting consumers into making an online transaction, instead of criminals relying heavily on phishing the credentials for banks."
Such fake-antivirus scams generate an estimated $14m (£8.6m) in profit each month for criminals, he said.
MessageLabs reported earlier this week on statistics showing that banking-related phishing scams have risen.
Credit: Report: As stock market drops malware rises from CNET News
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