best malware removal

2014 is upon us. Take a moment to review your personal technological transformation in the last 10 years. Were you using a mobile phone 10 years ago? Could you live without it today? How about how far the Internet has come and your reliance upon it?

Did you ever imagine you would use technologies like Facebook and Twitter as often as you do? Did you ever imagine that cyber security would be such a huge issue that you have to deal with it personally, every day?what is the best malware removal 2014

2013 IN REVIEW



Some big predictions were made last year. Let’s start by seeing how we did. The volume and severity of attacks from international sources did increase substantially. Many of these attacks were targeted towards the government and military. There were many stories and articles on this topic in 2013 that confirm the predictions made last year. We also saw a strong increase in targeted attacks towards utilities and other critical infrastructure systems. It wasn’t just the U.S. either; this was widespread across many nations.

As predicted, botnets did not pose a significant threat, especially to small and medium sized businesses. While botnets such as those based on “Conficker” were feared and there were even some days when some in the industry braced for something big, nothing much happened that caused a large scale impact.

Another prediction was an increase in the exploit of buffer overflows. Some have reported that close to 90% of exploits in 2009 targeted Microsoft buffer overflow vulnerabilities. (see Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-067)

One big shift last year was predictions tied to the downturn in the economy and the impact that has on information security. Malware were listed as the #1 threat for 2013 and were listed as a rising threat this year in 2014. According to a survey released in October of 2009 by Actimize and reported by DarkReading, nearly 80% of financial institutions worldwide say the insider threat problem has increased in the wake of the economic downturn. 70% of financial institutions reported incidents of insider fraud in the last 10 months. Nearly half of the banks in the Actimize survey say they are losing 1 to 4 percent of their total revenues to insider fraud.

2014

Now we look into the future. What do we have to worry about in 2010 from an information security perspective?

#1 – Malware (Rising Threat)

In 2013, Malware was listed as a “steady threat” and the 2nd highest ranked threat to organizations. I underestimated the dramatic increase in malware in 2014. Due to that increase and the number of organizations that are affected each day by malware, I have elevated it to the #1 position. This is a bit controversial since most security experts would list insiders as the top threat, but I believe in 2014 more organizations will be negatively affected by malware than by malicious insiders.

There are so many methods employed today to get malware installed on systems. One primary method is through the use of client-side software vulnerabilities. These are usually 3rd party applications that are exploited such as Adobe Acrobat, Quicktime, Flash, and even Microsoft Office. Client-side applications are not patched nearly as frequently as operating system vulnerabilities. Browsers remain a top target for vulnerabilities that criminals want to exploit as well. Browser flaws and subsequent patches were common news in 2013 and will likely be in 2014.

Malware is most often getting installed on systems when the user is lured through any number of methods to malicious or compromised websites that can exploit one of these client-side vulnerabilities. Once the malicious software is installed, it acts as a Trojan horse software program performing any number of malevolent acts including information stealing keyloggers, fast flux botnets, relays, and remote control agents. In 2014, the Zeus Trojan began spreading via drive-by downloads (malware sites that automatically infect systems that simply browse the webpage) and was capable of spreading, capturing financial data, and a variety of other things.

IBM reported that during the first half of 2013, malicious links on websites increased by 508%. Much of the malware distribution is performed by organized cybercrime networks. In 2013, the FBI reported that for the first time ever, revenue from cybercrime had exceeded drug trafficking as the most lucrative illegal global business, estimated at taking in more than $1 billion annually in profits. Individual hackers and groups loosely tie themselves together into an organized criminal hierarchy where common goals are achieved through a reward system.

Malwaredoc.com interviewed some of the top malware and virus removal experts that our in the top of there field in 2014. You can read there interviews and also see what they suggest as the best malware removal tool in 2014.

Malware is used in all the major cases you hear about in the news. Heartland, TJMaxx, Hannaford, and many other companies have seen the effects of malware installed on their systems. Many organizations go months and sometimes years before the malware is discovered. According to a study released by the Verizon Business Risk Management group, malware contributes to about one third of data breaches.