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| [PHOTO: Enric Martinez/Flickr/CC BY 2.0] |
Washington: Cyber security firm PandaLabs has published its Virus
Yearbook for 2012, outlining its picks for the most unique viruses of the past
year.
Rather than a ranking of the most widespread viruses, or
those that have caused most infections, these viruses are ones that deserve
mention for standing out from the more than 24 million new strains of malware
that emerged.
Police virus: This strain of malware caused most headaches
for users and IT departments alike. It purports to show a message from the
police telling users that their computer has been blocked – which it has –
because they have supposedly downloaded illegal material. To recover their systems,
users are asked to pay a fine. The most recent versions even show images taken
with the user's webcam, making the scam all the more realistic.
Flame: A close relative of Stuxnet, Flame is one of the
most powerful cyber-war tools created so far, and infections have been focused
primarily in the Middle East.
Flashback: A bot that breaks away from the norm of infecting
Windows and targets Apple systems and attacks thousands of Mac computers around
the world. Since it appeared, Mac users are no longer quite as relaxed about
security as they once were.
Zeus: A Trojan that steals information from users of online
banking services. This family of malware has been known for some time, yet it
continues to spread. However this year new variants were detected, which in
addition to infecting computers, compromise security on smartphones (Android,
BlackBerry, Symbian), targeting those banks that send information via cellphone
to customers as an additional security measure.
Koobface: The most mendacious malware of the year, spent the
whole of 2012 spreading endless lies on social networks in order to infect
users. In one attack it related a spurious story about President Obama having
punched someone who racially insulted him. So beware of sensational stories on
social media, this is a favorite trick of cyber-crooks.
BlackHole Exploit kit: One of the most popular kits for
creating malware over the last year. It exploits numerous security holes to
install and uses all types of exploits, particularly Java and Adobe.
DarkAngle: A fake antivirus that poses as Panda
CloudAntivirus. It takes advantage of the renown of Panda Security's free cloud
antivirus to infect as many computers as possible.
Ainslot.L: When it infects, the Ainslot.L bot scans
computers and removes any other bots it finds.
Kuluoz: A worm that refers to things supposedly bought only
and then infects computers. The worm arrives in an email that looks as though
it has been sent from FedEx, and tells users they have a parcel to collect.