Russia overtakes China as king of malware producers

Russia has passed China to become the largest generator of spyware and other malicious code, according to a report set to be released tomorrow.

Security software maker PC Tools said Russia now accounts for 27.9 per cent of such software, compared with China's 26.5 per cent. The US, which had been the second largest producer in prior surveys, is now in third place, accounting for a slightly less than 10 per cent of malware.

Russia is also known as a hotbed for junk email, known as spam.

PC Tools said the death of Russian Business Network (RBN), a well-known malicious software distributor, has not slowed the country's production of malicious code.

PC Tools malware analyst, Sergei Shevchenko, said in a statement: "The vacuum left by the RBN has been filled by other malware distributors. The bottom line is that there are more viruses and spyware coming out of Russia now than ever before and the complexity of this malware is also increasing."

In fact, he said, the now-defunct organisation was easier to track than the smaller outfits that are filling its shoes. "Now we are seeing Russian malware hosting services being advertised for servers in Malaysia, China, Panama, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey and India," Shevchenko said.

For-profit attacks have been on the rise, particularly those targeted at small groups or individuals.

Below is a list of the top 10 malware-producing countries:

1. Russia - 27.89 per cent
2. China - 26.52 per cent
3. United States - 9.98 per cent
4. Brazil - 6.77 per cent
5. Ukraine - 5.45 per cent
6. United Kingdom - 5.34 per cent
7. France - 3.81 per cent
8. Germany - 2.14 per cent
9. Sweden - 1.6 per cent
10. Spain - 1.37 per cent

Original article: Report: Russia passes China to become malware leader from CNET News.com