Malware Activity Sends Heavy Traffic to Insurance Sites in Fortinet’s Most-Reported Threats for July 2008

SUNNYVALE, CA, August 6 / MARKET WIRE/ --

Fortinet® -- the pioneer and leading provider of unified threat management (UTM) solutions -- today announced the top 10 most reported high-risk threats for July 2008. One clear trend for the month shows a proliferation of high traffic-generating threats -- Iframe.DN, Iframe.DR and Redirector.CA -- as a way to drive users to specific web sites for financial gain. Interestingly, July's three most active traffic generators shared a common destination, driving users to insurance sites.

"Strong activity this month among high traffic-generating malware means that users need to put even more thought in how to be safe on the Internet; avoiding underground and pornographic sites, for example, does not make you 100 percent malware proof today," said Derek Manky, security researcher for Fortinet. "Online safety really comes from a combination of good practice and adapted security solutions."

Fortinet's FortiGuard® Global Security Research Team compiled this report based on intelligence gathered from FortiGate® multi-threat security systems in production worldwide. Customers who use Fortinet's FortiGuard Subscription Services are already protected against the threats outlined in this report.

Other malware trends observed during this period include the following:

 --  Virut.A, a virus that infects executable files, continues its     impressive run with increased activity, landing in second place and keeping     its six-month placement in the top five;  --  Pushdo, a Trojan whose purpose is to download and install malicious     software, is back among the Top Ten this month after briefly dropping in     activity;  --  Two new Javascript variants - Iframe.DR and Redirector.CA - take hold     of seventh and tenth positions, respectively;  --  Heavy online gaming Trojan activity continues in Taiwan and Japan     through OnLineGames.fam!tr.pws; as a family, OnLineGames still tops the     list.     

Following are the Top Ten individual threats and Top Five threat families in July. Top 100 shifts indicate positional changes compared to June's Top 100 ranking, with "new" representing the malware's debut in the Top 100.

Top Ten Individual Threats

                                                  % of         Top 100 Rank  Threat Name                 Threat Type    Detections   Shift 1     W32/Netsky!similar          Mass mailer    10.39        - 2     W32/Virut.A                 Virus          7.03         +1 3     Pushdo!tr                   Trojan         6.01         new 4     W32/Agent.TPF!tr.dldr       Trojan         4.78         new 5     HTML/Iframe.DN!tr.dldr      Trojan         4.51         +3 6     W32/MyTob.FR@mm             Mass mailer    3.75         +3 7     JS/Iframe.DR                Trojan         3.6          new 8     W32/OnLineGames.fam!tr.pws  Trojan         3.53         -4 9     W32/Mdrop.BTV!tr            Trojan         2.7          new 10    JS/Redirector.CA!tr         Trojan         2.31         new 

Top Five Families

 Rank        Malware Family         Percentage      Top 10 Shift 1           OnlineGames            18.8            - 2           Netsky                 16.7            - 3           MyTob                  9.9             - 4           Virut                  7.8             - 5           Pushdo                 6.1            +6 

To read the full July report, please visit: http://www.fortiguardcenter.com/reports/roundup_jul_2008.html. For ongoing threat research, bookmark the FortiGuard Center (http://www.fortiguardcenter.com/) or add it to your RSS feed by going to http://www.fortinet.com/FortiGuardCenter/rss/index.html. To learn more about FortiGuard Subscription Services, visit http://www.fortinet.com/products/fortiguard.html.

FortiGuard Subscription Services offer broad security solutions including antivirus, intrusion prevention, Web content filtering and anti-spam capabilities. These services enable protection against threats on both application and network layers. FortiGuard Services are continuously updated by the FortiGuard Global Security Research Team, which enables Fortinet to deliver a combination of multi-layered security intelligence and true zero-day protection from new and emerging threats. These updates are delivered to all FortiGate, FortiMail and FortiClient products.

About Fortinet (www.fortinet.com)

Fortinet is the pioneer and leading provider of ASIC-accelerated unified threat management, or UTM, security systems, which are used by enterprises and service providers to increase their security while reducing total operating costs. Fortinet solutions were built from the ground up to integrate multiple levels of security protection -- including firewall, antivirus, intrusion prevention, VPN, spyware prevention and anti-spam -- designed to help customers protect against network and content level threats. Leveraging a custom ASIC and unified interface, Fortinet solutions offer advanced security functionality that scales from remote office to chassis-based solutions with integrated management and reporting. Fortinet solutions have won multiple awards around the world and are the only security products that are certified in seven programs by ICSA Labs: Firewall, Antivirus, IPSec, SSL, Network IPS, and Anti-Spyware. Fortinet is privately held and based in Sunnyvale, California.

Copyright © 2008 Fortinet, Inc. All rights reserved. The symbols ® and (TM) denote respectively federally registered trademarks and unregistered trademarks of Fortinet, Inc., its subsidiaries and affiliates, including, but not limited to, the following trademarks: Fortinet, FortiGate, FortiGuard, FortiManager, FortiMail, FortiClient, FortiCare, FortiAnalyzer, FortiReporter, FortiOS, FortiASIC, FortiWiFi, FortiSwitch, FortiVoIP, FortiBIOS, FortiLog, FortiResponse, FortiDB, APSecure, and ABACAS. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Media Contact:
Kim Nguyen
Fortinet, Inc.
+1 408 486 5458
[email protected]