The second quarter threat report from McAfee has some bad news for all computer users out there. The main finding is that Spam volumes have increased by 141% since March, 2009, continuing the longest streak of increasing spam volumes ever. But that’s not all, as there has been a dramatic expansion of botnets and auto-run malware.

The report highlighted the fact that 14 million computers have been enslaved by cybercriminal botnets, a 16% increase over last quarter.

Auto-run is becoming an increasing problem and over a test period of 30 days, it was discovered to have infected over 27 million files. Auto-Run malware, which exploits Windows Auto-Run capabilities, does not require any user clicks to activate. It is most often spread through portable USB and storage devices. Depressingly, the rate of detection surpasses the infamous Conficker worm by 400%, making it the number one piece of malware detected around the world.

Mike Gallagher, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of McAfee Avert Labs, said:
“The jump in bot and spam activity we saw in the last three months is alarming, and the threat from Auto-Run malware continues to grow. The expansion of these infections is a grave reminder of the potential harm that can be caused by unprotected computers in homes and businesses.”

McAfee also provides some background showing the a generally worsening computer security situation.

It is noted that fourteen million additional computers have been turned into botnets this quarter. This equates to more than 150,000 computers infected every day, or 20% of the personal computers bought daily.

It also said that South Korea accounted for the largest boost in bot activity. The country saw a 45% increase in new infected computers over the last quarter. And such botnets were used to execute the recent DDoS cyber attacks against the White House, the New York Stock Exchange and South Korean government Web sites.

But although South Korea has its problems, it only accounts for less than four percent of the world’s new bots. And its the U.S. which tops the list with 15% of the new zombie computers.

And its this bot expansion that is behind the increasing volume of spam, which is now 92% of all email. Spam volumes have now exceeded the highest volume on record by 20%, increasing at a steady rate of roughly 33% each month. This equates to spam volumes growing by over 117 billion emails every day.

What’s most disturbing, is that as the number of bots continues to grow, malware writers have begun to offer malicious software as a service to those who control botnets. By exchanging, or selling resources, cybercriminals distribute new malware to wider audiences instantaneously. And the creation of and management of malware is becoming even easier, thanks to programmes like Zeus.

Programs like Zeus – an easy-to-use Trojan creation tool – continue to make the creation and management of malware even easier.

And cyber criminals are increasingly turning their attention to the popular social networking sites, including Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.

Guest Article by Neil Camp