Computer hijacking quadruples

#105 Incidents involving malicious code, also known as "bot" code, reached 13,000 from April through June, according to a report from antivirus-software maker McAfee. That's quadruple the number tracked by the company in the previous three months. McAfee estimated that 63 percent more machines were exploited by bot programs and by spyware and adware.

You will notice a absense of large scale virus and worm "pandemics" lately, since as reported in previous blog entries (Virus writers go under the radar), hackers are now being replaced by proffessionals going "under the radar" and implementing targeted attacks for mostly financial gain, and the McAfee report confirms this trend.

Expect to see more incidents of infection, but less pandemics. This is also borne out by a report released by Symantec today "Hacking for dollars" which notes that "the benefit of creating a widespread worm on the Internet has really been superseded by the potential of monetary gain."