Bots and rootkits among top 10 threats, said McAfee

22.12.2006
The days of big virus outbreaks like MyDoom, Melissa and SQL Slammer are gone, said Joe Telafici, director of operations for McAfee Inc.'s Avert Labs.

Telafici was speaking at the recent AVAR (Association of Antivirus Asia Researchers) conference, which was held in Auckland. Today's cyber criminals don't want to draw attention to themselves as the main motivation for cyber crime now is money, not fame, he said.

They are 'clearly getting more devious," he said, but law enforcement cooperation across borders is also getting more efficient.

Telafici's team of around 100 security experts in 16 countries builds McAfee's security content. But they also educate and cooperate with law enforcement.

At the end of last month, McAfee Avert Labs made ten security threat predictions for 2007. They are:

1) The use of bots, computer programs that perform automated tasks, will increase. Botnetworks will also increase, but there will be a move away from internet relay chat (IRC) towards less obtrusive instant messaging and peer-to-peer communication, said Telafici.