Research: IM Malware Attacks on the Rise
By ArnY on Wednesday 3 January 2007, 11:31 - security - Permalink
According to a new research report produced by security software maker Akonix Systems, in San Diego, experts at the company unearthed some 406 new IM-borne threats over the last 12 months, compared with 347 attacks tracked by the company in 2005.
In 2004 the company's security analysts discovered just under 50 attacks that were carried out either via IM or peer-to-peer technologies.
However, attacks delivered via P2P networks appear to be falling in popularity, as Akonix researchers recorded an 11 percent decrease in that type of threat during December 2006, with only 16 such attacks reported for the month. Akonix traditionally reports its research of IM and P2P threats simultaneously.
New IM worms arriving during December included the Blowhen and Skyper viruses, as well as Sohana, which was the most common attack seen by the researchers, with five variants, followed by Blowhen, with two.
This actually reminds me of my "varezov on icq" mystery
via eweek