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Trend Micro's 2011 Threat Predictions

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

With the growing diversity of operating systems among companies, as well as the growing use of mobile devices,

cybercriminals should have a ball in 2011. Their tactic will be to put a new spin on social engineering by way of “malware campaigns,” by bombarding recipients with email that drop Trojan downloaders. Already, Trend Micro threat researchers have found that more than 80 percent of the top malware use the Web to arrive on users' systems. 2011 will bring about a growth in exploits for alternative operating systems, programs and Web browsers, combined with tremendous growth in the use of application vulnerabilities. Trend Micro expects more Proof of Concept (PoC) attacks against cloud infrastructure and virtualized systems to show up in 2011. Knowing that the desktop monoculture will disappear, cybercriminals will test how to successfully infiltrate and misuse a monoculture in the cloud. Targeted attacks on “unpatchable” (but widely used) legacy systems-like Windows 2000/Windows XP SP2-are likewise expected to continue. Social engineering will continue to play a big role in the propagation of threats. Cybercriminals will promote malware via cleverly designed email messages that trick users into clicking malicious links that point to downloadable pages.

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