BANGALORE, INDIA: Symantec Corp. announced that malicious code activity continued to grow at a record pace throughout 2008, primarily targeting confidential information of computer users. Web surfing remains the primary source of new infections in 2008, and attackers are relying more and more on customized malicious code toolkits to develop and distribute their threats

According to the company’s Internet Security Threat Report Volume (ISTR) XIV (covers January 2008 to December 2008), Symantec created more than 1.6 million new malicious code signatures in 2008. This equates to over 60 percent of the total malicious code signatures ever created by Symantec ­ a response to the rapidly increasing volume and proliferation of new malicious code threats. These signatures helped Symantec block more than 245 million attempted malicious code attacks across the globe each month during 2008.

In tune with the global trends, India too saw a substantial increase in its proportion of malicious activity in almost every category. India had the fifth highest number of broadband subscribers in the APJ region in 2008 and the third highest volume of malicious activity, with 10 percent of the regional total. Computers from the United States and China were the leading source of web-based attacks targeting India, accounting for 84 percent and 5 percent respectively.

Vishal Dhupar, managing director, Symantec India, said: “Due to a rapidly growing Internet infrastructure, a burgeoning broadband population and rampant software piracy, India is expected to witness increased malicious activities. Unless enterprises improve security protocols and measures to counter malicious activities, India will continue to be a soft target of Internet threats.”

According to the report, India had an average of 836 bots per day during 2008 and there were 1,03,812 distinct bot-infected computers observed in the country during the period. This was a staggering increase of nearly 250 percent from the previous Internet Security Threat Report. 

Globally, in 2008, Symantec observed an average of more than 75, 000 active bot-infected computers each day, a 31 percent increase from 2007. India also saw a huge surge in bot command and control servers from 40 in 2007 to 70 in 2008. Bot command-and-control (C&C) servers are computers that botnet owners use to relay commands to bot- infected computers on their networks. The sharp increase in bot-infected computers in India points towards low adoption of security measure that includes anti-malware, intrusion prevention and intrusion detection. 

Amongst the cities in India with the highest number of bot-infected computers, Mumbai figured at the top with 37 percent followed by Chennai at 24 percent and Delhi at seven percent. Cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Calcutta, Surat, Ahmadabad, Cochin and Pune too had a sizeable share of bot-infected computers.