Dec 2, 2009

Helsinki, Finland – December 2, 2009: F-Secure Data Security Wrap-up for 2009, Internet worms record rapid global growth

“This year has seen no let-up in the growth of sophisticated online threats - quite the opposite. Making money continues to be the main motivation for today's virus writers,” says Mikko Hyppönen, Chief Research Officer at F-Secure.

In 2009 smartphones have become more popular and more powerful than ever. Smartphones are increasingly used for Internet based activity, including social media, which itself experienced substantial growth in the past year. Much of this has been driven by the iPhone and other touchscreen smartphones.

At the end of 2009 jailbroken iPhones became a target for the first profit-motivated malware on this platform. The speed of the malware evolution for jailbroken iPhones is a telling sign of the times. The news of a Dutch hacker exploiting a jailbroken iPhone vulnerability was quickly followed by an Australian boy writing a worm that tried to ‘teach people a lesson’ for not changing their default SSH password. The first stealthy worm for jailbroken iPhones then emerged almost immediately, designed to create a mobile botnet and gain access to online banking details.

Read more: http://www.f-secure.com/en_EMEA/about-us/pressroom/news/2009/fs_news_20091202_01_eng.html