Data-stealing Trojans 'on the rise'

2009-07-02

Trojans are the quickest growing category of data-stealing malware, according to figures from TrendLabs.

Attacks from Trojans can be seriously dangerous for computers and they are usually disguised as something harmless such as a screen saver, asserted Trend Micro, which owns TrendLabs.

They can also come in the guise of games or jokes, it explained.

Over half (52 per cent) of data-stealing malware were Trojans in 2007, TrendLabs data shows, and this increased to 87 per cent last year.

As of the first quarter of this year, 93 percent of data-stealing malware were Trojans.

Jamz Yaneza, threat research manager for Trend Micro, said: "As a threat category, data-stealing malware is experiencing tremendous growth because it serves the needs of financially motivated criminals who leverage the internet for what it does best - provides valuable information."

Last month, BitDefender released a list of the top ten e-threats detected in May with Trojans taking up six of the ten places.

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