The Microsoft vulnerability first hit the headlines in October 2008, and has continued to target un-patched computers through December and January, with the highest recorded activity occurring on 14 January. Its impact has placed it ninth on the Threatscape ‘top ten’ list of vulnerabilities.
There was, notably, an increase in activity for online gaming Trojans with the malware variant spy/OnLineGames which rose over 75 positions in the Fortinet antivirus top 100, hitting first place through making up 8.8% of all detected malware activity.
Obama’s inauguration also provided an opportunity for hackers to reap profits, such as with emails which supplied a link to a URL created to resemble an official campaign site. Various links stating ‘news’ such as ‘Obama is not ready to be a president’, and ‘Barack Obama has gone’ hosted the executable which when downloaded, was found to be the ‘waledac’ virus.
According to the report, overall vulnerabilities rose 4% since the month of December.