According to data collected from Fortinet's appliances around the world, two particular Trojans stood out during the year-end period.

These were: the W32/Zbot.GXN!tr.spy Trojan, which specialises in siphoning confidential banking information, and the gaming Trojan Spy/OnLineGames, which aims to commit theft of virtual property by illegally obtaining user passwords for online games. The former launched a four-day attack from 25--28 November, which coincided with the Schnäppchenfreitag shopping weekend in the United States, and Fortinet believes this was a deliberate attempt to gather as much consumer banking and credit card information as possible.

A Fortinet executive further cautioned against taking gaming Trojans lightly.

"Though taking a backseat to the keylogging and banking Trojans in this period, online-gaming attacks continue to be significant primarily due to the popularity of the games themselves and the real-world value that's associated with virtual gaming assets," said Derek Manky, project manager, cyber security and threat research, Fortinet. "It should be noted that online gaming Trojans should be seen as a threat to users, gamers and corporations alike. Any Trojan sitting on a machine that has been compromised should be considered a threat to the network to which it is connected, as Trojans typically have a very dynamic nature."

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