The new Panda Software study is investigating the extent that criminal malware is infecting PCs world-wide, even those PC's with an anti-virus program installed. The study's results, to be published shortly, will offer data such as the actual number of infected computers and the types of threats that are most frequently installed on PCs without the users' knowledge.The new criminal malware attacks are causing many computers to be infected even though they have an anti-virus program installed.

Among the trends we can find:

    Cyber-crooks try to infect computers silently, so that neither users nor security companies can detect when new samples are put in circulation. For example, just a few days ago, PandaLabs found out a network of zombie computers made up of 160,000 PCs infected with the Barracuda.A bot, unknown until then. One of the things this malicious code does is it permits hackers to gain remote access to the affected computer in order to carry out actions that compromise user confidentiality and impede the tasks performed on the computer.

    Since this is a worldwide study, Panda Software is asking all users for their help in gathering as much information as possible. To take part in the study, users should go to http://www.infectedornot.com and scan their computers with NanoScan and TotalScan. Panda Software thinks this study to be important in effectively addressing the new trend in malware. Cyber-criminals are no longer interested in the celebrity of causing widely reported epidemics, but rather, they want to steal confidential information that can be used for online fraud or identity theft.

    More new malware appears every day. In 2006, PandaLabs detected as much new malware as in the previous 15 years combined.  At present, anti-virus laboratories cannot process all the new threats that appear day after day. This results in many computers being infected without users' knowledge, even though they might have an updated anti-virus program installed.

    Increased amount of malware using "stealth techniques", like rootkits, packers, etc. Malware that uses these techniques are more difficult to find and stay longer on computers performing malicious actions such as sending spam, launching attacks against other computers, or hosting a Trojan waiting for commands to gather important informaton and perform online fraud without the user knowing. Panda Software has recently launched a free utility for removing rootkits (Panda Anti-Rootkit), available at http://www.pandasoftware.com/about/press/antirootkits

    The types of malicious code traditionally responsible for large epidemics, like viruses or worms, are being replaced with other criminally-oriented malware such as Trojans, bots or spyware. Some 66 percent of new Trojans that appeared in the first quarter of 2007 were designed to be used for theft.

    Both scans detect far more malware than traditional anti-virus solutions as they utilize the "Collective Intelligence" developed at PandaLabs. The Collective Intelligence automates the processing of malware so it is able to identify and develop vaccines for far greater volumes of malware than a traditional anti-virus lab. It is also in real-time communication with users' computers. This means that the malware scan and detection is performed on Panda Software's severs, not on the PC itself, in real-time with the most up-to-the minute vaccines immediately available without having to wait for anti-virus software periodic updates. Panda Software wants to evaluate the scope of this criminal activity with the study it is carrying out at http://www.infectedornot.com. At this site, users who want to collaborate with this initiative will find two free antivirus tools: NanoScan and TotalScan. At present, NanoScan detects almost 900,000 threats, whereas TotalScan can detect almost a million. They can detect even the threats that slipped past other anti-virus programs. TotalScan not only detects all types of known and unknown threats, but also disinfects them free of charge.

Panda Software will shortly publish the study's results at http://www.infectedornot.com