The bad news is that this new breed of malware seems to be exceptional at evading detection. Threats like Stuxnet and Flame appear to have been circulating in the wild for years before being identified by security researchers. The malware exploits zero day flaws that software vendors and security researchers are unaware of to sneak in and operate behind the scenes.

The good news is that these next-generation malware attacks are highly targeted. They seem to be developed with very specific goals in mind, and are deployed with more precision than an average malware threat. Controlling the spread of the threat, and limiting the scope of the attack is another way of avoiding detection. Odds are fair that your PC wont be in the crosshairs of one of these malware threats.

For businesses and consumers, the recipe for solid malware defense remains the same: Apply all patches to fix the holes in your operating systems and applications before malware attacks, and keep your security tools up to date in order to identify and block known threats and suspicious activity.