30 January 2009 - The US regained the dubious position of the single biggest source of viruses in January 2009, according to analysis of Internet threats by managed security firm, Network Box. Nearly 15 14.8 per cent of all viruses originate from the US. In second place is Korea, responsible for nearly nine 8.9 per cent of all viruses; an increase from eight per cent in December and 6.3 per cent in November.

China, which at the end of last year looked as though it posed the greatest virus threat, when it accounted for 11.8 per cent of viruses more than any other country has dropped to number six on the list, now the source of just under four per cent of viruses.

The US briefly lost its place at the top of the virus chart at the end of last year when the McColo spambot network was taken down in November. The overall percentage of viruses originating from the US is still significantly lower than at its peak in October 2008 14.8 per cent as opposed to 26.5 per cent.

The US is also responsible for the largest output of spam at 9.3 per cent of the total. Korea is responsible for more intrusions than any other country, at just over 22 22.2 per cent.

Phishing attacks still post the biggest threat to Internet security, accounting for more than 30 30.8 per cent of all viruses.

Simon Heron, Internet Security Analyst for Network Box, says: Korea and Brazil are clearly the ones to watch in 2009. The gap between the top countries producing viruses and spam is closing significantly.


Top Ten Sources of Viruses

Country Daily Average
US 14.80390
Korea 8.97632
Australia 6.05886
Turkey 5.93704
Brazil 4.68429
China 3.94192
UK 2.91147
Russia 2.72226
India 2.39100
Poland 2.25601

Top Ten Sources of Spam

Country Daily Average
US 9.36787
Australia 8.79661
Brazil 8.14785
China 8.01635
Korea 5.27517
India 4.29488
Turkey 3.84544
Spain 2.54544
Poland 2.53013
UK 2.45549

Top Ten Sources of Intrusions

Country Daily Average
Korea 22.23955
US 14.22669
Malaysia 6.70912
Australia 6.26401
Hong Kong 4.18803
Brazil 3.96116
China 3.26389
Turkey 2.77783
UK 1.66567
Poland 1.55368

Top Ten Viruses

Threat Name Daily Average
spam.phish.url 30.84645
nbh-bscript 11.19126
spam.porn.spam nb porn subj csk 1 10.67923
trojan-spy.html.fraud.gen 4.53891
spam.porn.porn nb cam porn 4.39101
virus.win32.virut.a 3.23827
can-2003-0161 2.85366
spam.porn.porn nb pornhint 1 1.98472
clm.html.phishing.pay-187 1.49936
clm.html.phishing.bank-390 1.29725

Top Ten Trojans

Threat Name Daily Average
trojan-spy.html.fraud.gen 0.02510
trojan-clicker.html.iframe.abn 0.00452
trojan-downloader.win32.injecter.ga 0.00119
trojan-spy.win32.zbot.kbi 0.00113
trojan-spy.win32.zbot.jwl 0.00099
trojan.win32.agent2.mn 0.00098
trojan-dropper.win32.agent.aefe 0.00080
trojan-clicker.js.agent.cg 0.00077
trojan.win32.agent.bepu 0.00071
trojan-banker.win32.banker.acas 0.00054

Top Ten Intrusions

Threat Name Daily Average
NETBIOS 23.83796
BOGON 10.87258
PINGFLOOD 4.50495
HTTP-S-WEBDAV 0.03635
ICMP 0.02827
HTTP-S-WEBDEX 0.01259
SOBIG-F 0.01057
HTTP-S-NIMDA 0.00356
HTTP-S-UNIXATTACK 0.00348
HTTP-S-WEBATTACK 0.00237