Facts About Remote Access Trojans (RATs) vs AlienSpy

AlienSpy is the latest in a family of RATs which target both consumers and enterprises in a bid to steal valuable data and compromise systems. Remote Access Trojans (RATs) never fully vanish; instead, they are often recycled and redeveloped in the changing cybersecurity landscape. These kinds of Trojans, often deployed through phishing campaigns which use spoof emails and malicious files to deliver malware payloads, can be tailored to target particular industries -- such as banking or manufacturing -- or be used indiscriminately against both consumers and businesses. In a security advisory (.PDF) posted Thursday, security firm Fidelis said the newly-discovered AlienSpy Trojan is currently being used in international phishing campaigns against both consumers and the enterprise,...

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20% of all malware ever created appeared in 2013

According to the latest PandaLabs report, malware creation hit a new milestone. In 2013 alone, cyber-criminals created and distributed 20 percent of all malware that has ever existed, with a total of 30 million new malicious strains in circulation, at an average of 82,000 per day. Despite Trojans have continued to be the most common security threat, the company’s anti-malware laboratory has observed a wide variety of attacks, with a notable resurgence of ransomware (CryptoLocker being one of the nastiest examples).The proportion of infected computers around the world was 31.53 percent, very similar to the 2012 figures.Besides offering an overview of the most significant events in the computer security field, the 2013 Annual Security Report...

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