Cyber criminals are increasingly designing their attacks in multiple languages and are exploiting popular local applications to maximise profits, according to a McAfee report released today.
“This isn’t malware for the masses anymore,” says Jeff Green, senior vice president, McAfee Avert Labs. “Cyber crooks have become extremely deft at learning the nuances of the local regions and creating malware specific to each country. They’re not skilled just at computer programming: they’re skilled at psychology and linguistics, too.”
McAfee says it examined global malware trends in its third Global Threat Report, entitled ‘One Internet, Many Worlds’, which breaks down threat trends according to region.
“Malware has become more regional in nature during the past couple of years,” states Green. “This trend is further evidence that today’s cyber-attacks are targeted and driven by a financial motive, instead of the glory and notoriety of yesteryear’s cyber graffiti and fast-spreading worms. We’re in a constant chess match with malware authors, and we’re prepared to counter them in any language they’re learning to speak.”
Key points are as follows: McAfee sees the US as the ‘the great malware melting pot’. Although the US has cyber crime laws in place, the lack of international cyber legislation and differences in extradition treaties make it difficult for enforcement agencies to prosecute criminals across borders.
Then in Europe, McAfee says malware is learning the various country languages so that non-English speaking Internet users don’t simply delete English-language spam and phishing e-mails. “Today, malware authors adapt the language to the Internet domain site where the scam threat report is being sent,” says McAfee. “Cultural events, such as the FIFA soccer World Cup in the summer of 2006, prompted email scams and phishing sites luring in soccer lovers.”
As for China, malware has become integrated with virtual entertainment, with malware authors cashing in on virtual goods, currency and online games. “A majority of the malware found in China is password-stealing Trojans designed to steal users’ identities in online games, and their credentials, for virtual currency accounts,” says McAfee.
As for Russia, McAfee finds some of the most notorious attack toolkits being produced in there and sold in underground markets. “Experts believe that the Russian mafia will soon – if they haven’t already – latch onto computer crime,” says McAfee.
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