The IT security vendor says that, as was the situation back in December 2010, seven of the top 10 malware detections were trojans, with those seven accounting for almost 34% of all malware detections for the month.
The January 2011 ThreatNet report also revealed an increase in the FakeVimes rogues that were reported last month, when FraudTool.Win32.FakeVimes!delf hit the number nine spot with 0.73% of all detections.
According to GFI, this represents a heuristics detection for malicious code associated with the FakeVimes family of rogue security products, illustrating the continued growth of fake and compromised security applications as a method of circulating and covertly install malware onto PCs.
During January, GFI adds that a detection of PersonalInternetSecurity2011.FakeVimes (0.64% of detections) was at the number 12 spot and the top 50 also included Antivirus8.FakeXPA, FraudTool.Win32.FakeVimes!VB and Win32.FakeVimes!delf.
Also during last month, the IT security vendor says that Twitter users fell victim to a fake antivirus software scam as a number of accounts began distributing links promoting rogue security software.
The attack used Google's web address shortening service to conceal the links' destination.
Twitter, says GFI, worked to reset passwords, but there is no telling how many users were led to malicious sites due to this phishing attack.
Commenting on the January ThreatNet report, Tom Kelchner, GFI's communications and research analyst, said that another indicator of increased rogue activity is the fact that his team discovered - and blogged about - 22 new rogues during January.
That's a lot for one month, considering we've seen an average of between 13 and 14 new iterations per month for the last three years", he said.