Instant Messaging (IM) Worm Mutations
‘The speed of worm mutations poses the largest threat to corporate and consumer instant messaging (IM) use due to the difficulty in consistently maintaining up-to-date virus protection on local and mobile systems.
As a leading indicator for the number of mutations to expect, the Kelvir worm has mutated 123 times during the last 11 months. Most disturbing, with the latest mutation trend, is the breadth of threats which have mutated; more than 88 percent of all IM worms tracked by the IMlogic Threat Center have demonstrated mutations. In addition, traditional email worms have begun spreading through IM. For example the email Rbot worm which has mutated over 600 times since first being discovered in email, now has over 13 mutations using IM for distribution. The combination of IM threats mutating to avoid existing virus protection, the increasing sophistication of IM viruses and the mutations of threats across distribution modes has created IM threats that are more capable of installing malware on the local machine, disabling existing desktop security software and antivirus systems, and capturing sensitive end-user information.’
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