NZ third most affected by malware

Now that 2010 is so last year, online security company SonicWall has released an end-of-year security summary about who got what and where.

Over 30 countries were represented in the report which saw China and Taiwan top the list as the most heavily hit countries for worldwide threat-related traffic.

Taiwan, New Zealand and South Africa were named as the countries most heavily hit with malware.

The Netherlands, China and Taiwan lead the list for the most heavily hit countries with intrusion-related threats and multimedia threats.

Boris Yanovsky, VP of Software Engineering at SonicWall, explained, “The results of this report highlight the cyclical nature of cyber-security threats, from both weekly and yearly perspectives. Enterprises need to be especially alert to times of elevated risk, in particular the winter holiday season, and prepare an action plan of defense.”

The report found that the most active day for threat-related traffic worldwide is Tuesday, with Monday a close second.

The biggest malware threats of last year were Conficker worm, Bredolab Trojans, Zeus Bots, SpyEye Bots, FakeAV Trojans, Oficla Trojans, as well as malwares and web exploit kits such as Gumblar and Phoenix.

Trojans were found to peak in September and December, corresponding with the proliferation of back-to-school offers and holiday greeting cards, while worms spike in December alongside the winter holidays.