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February 15, 2006
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The data is based on information continuously gathered by the Commtouch Detection Center, which analyzed more than 2 billion messages from over 130 countries during the month of January.
One of the factors measured by Commtouch is the speed of distribution. The company considers attacks that peak within eight hours to have "short spans," since it takes an average of 8-10 hours for a traditional antivirus vendor to release an updated signature blocking a new virus.
Computer virus statistics from the Commtouch Detection Center indicate that 40% of attacks during January met this profile. Also, there is a clear connection between the attack's speed and its intensity -- the faster attacks are the biggest ones: while the average distribution time of low intensity attacks is a "leisurely" 27 hours and medium-intensity attacks can take 17 hours, massive attacks take as little as 5.5 hours to spread in hundreds of millions of emails.
"The number of massive attacks grew in January in large part due to the speed of distribution, they succeeded in reaching many of their targets despite the presence of traditional anti-virus programs," says Amir Lev, President and CTO of Commtouch Software.
The numbers are indeed concerning: 19 new email-born significant virus attacks, of which a troubling 8 were graded "low intensity", 7 "Medium Intensity" and 4 were massive attacks -- a rare phenomenon for a single month.
Based in part on a reliable third party lab test, Commtouch was able to compare detection times of 21 leading AV engines against 19 new viruses in January. The results:
-- On average, each AV completely missed 6.2 viruses (the attack was completed, and a signature was not yet available).
-- The average response time to new viruses among all AV engines was 8.12 hours.
"The data should be of great concern to AV vendors and IT managers alike," said Lev. "An eight hour response spells a simple truth -- a traditional AV solution does not stand a chance against massive attacks that end before a signature is even released."
"The conclusion is clear," adds Lev. "Without a reliable solution for early hour protection that complements the old fashion anti-virus solutions, users are unprotected from the most massive attacks."
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