November Virus/Spam Statistics: Most New Viruses Were Part of Multi-Wave Attacks.MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Commtouch (Nasdaq:CTCH CTCH Common Traffic Channel ): --New perspective on virus statistics - based on billions of sample emails --Commtouch virus statistics show nearly 40 new email viruses See e-mail virus. in November November: see month. , the majority peaking in less than 8 hours --Multi-wave virus attacks used for staying ahead of new signatures Commtouch(R) (Nasdaq:CTCH), the developer of ground breaking RPD RPD Rapid RPD Radiation Protection Dosimetry RPD Rapid Product Development RPD Rochester Police Department RPD Recurrent Pattern Detection (Commtouch anti-spam engine) RPD Relative Percent Difference RPD Removable Partial Denture (TM) technology for real time anti-spam and Zero-Hour(TM) virus protection, today announced spam E-mail that is not requested. Also known as "unsolicited commercial e-mail" (UCE), "unsolicited bulk e-mail" (UBE), "gray mail" and just plain "junk mail," the term is both a noun (the e-mail message) and a verb (to send it). and computer virus statistics for the month of November 2005. The conclusions below are based on data from the Commtouch Detection Center, which analyzed an·a·lyze tr.v. an·a·lyzed, an·a·lyz·ing, an·a·lyz·es 1. To examine methodically by separating into parts and studying their interrelations. 2. Chemistry To make a chemical analysis of. 3. more than 2 billion messages from over 130 countries during the month of November. Commtouch Brings New Perspective to Virus Statistics, Leveraging Its Mega-scale Centralized cen·tral·ize v. cen·tral·ized, cen·tral·iz·ing, cen·tral·iz·es v.tr. 1. To draw into or toward a center; consolidate. 2. Email Analysis Capabilities "Commtouch is in a very special position to provide reliable data to the anti-virus and anti-spam industries. Each month, the Commtouch Detection Center analyzes billions of email messages. Collected from over 130 countries, this data is the basis for our global spam statistics and computer virus statistics," said Oren Drori, Director of Product Marketing at Commtouch. "This network-based insight enables us to analyze the distribution pattern of each attack: the shape of its intensity function, its build-up build·up also build-up n. 1. The act or process of amassing or increasing: a military buildup; a buildup of tension during the strike. 2. and drop-off rates and its geographic spread." Nearly 40 New Viruses/Virus Variants Recorded in November Commtouch Detection Center's email virus statistics show that there were close to 40 new email-born viruses (or virus variants) during the month of November. 29% of the attacks were rated "low intensity," 47% "medium intensity" and 24% "high" or "very high." Multi-Wave Attacks Stay Ahead of New Signatures Since 95% of email users have AV protection of some kind, propagators of viruses are constantly working to defeat AV engines. One such method for circumventing AV engines is the "multi-wave attack," through which a series of variants of the same virus are released in stages over several hours or even days. By the time AV providers update their signatures against the first variant variant /var·i·ant/ (var´e-ant) 1. something that differs in some characteristic from the class to which it belongs. 2. exhibiting such variation. var·i·ant adj. , the second is already released, thereby increasing the length of time during which a virus can infect infect /in·fect/ (in-fekt´) 1. to invade and produce infection in. 2. to transmit a pathogen or disease to. in·fect v. 1. mailboxes. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. email virus statistics from the Commtouch Detection Center, 53% of new viruses issued during the month of November were part of such multi-wave attacks. In a particularly intensive attack, eight virus variants were released over the course of 14 hours. Only 47% of new viruses in November represented a "one-off" attack. Short Span Attacks Rule the Month The second factor measured by Commtouch in November, complementary to multi-wave attacks, was speed of distribution. The metric describing distribution speed is referred to as "Attack Span," which Commtouch defines as the length of time it takes for at least 80% of the virus attack's volume to be distributed. Attacks peaking within seven hours are considered to have "short spans," since it takes an average of 7-10 hours to release an updated signature blocking a new virus. Computer virus statistics from the Commtouch Detection Center indicate that the majority of November viruses had relatively short Attack Spans of less than seven hours. The average Attack Span was 8.62 hours. The following is a breakdown of three main Attack Spans: Short Attack Span (1-7 hours): 19 attacks (50%) Medium Attack Span (8-14 hours): 11 attacks (29%) Long Attack Span (15 hours or more): 8 attacks (21%) Spam Statistics: How Much Spam is in Our Mailboxes? According to spam statistics from the Commtouch Detection Center, in November 2005, spam accounted for 67.39% of global email traffic. Consistent with prior statistics, consumer traffic has more spam (79.88%) than business traffic ("only" 52.51%). "We attribute the differences to better habits of business users, as well as more legitimate traffic per user," said Drori. "Spam rates also vary significantly according to geographical areas. For example, the average American gets almost three times more spam than the average Austrian." Recipient Location Spam Rate US 76% Sweden, Russia, Finland, Norway 63-66% Denmark, Israel, Australia 53-59% Germany, UK, South Africa 46-48% Spain, Italy 35-36% Hungary, France 28-29% Austria 26% From Where does Spam Originate o·rig·i·nate v. 1. To bring into being; create. 2. To come into being; start. ? The Commtouch Detection Center monitors spam distribution patterns on a global level. November spam statistics show that approximately half of global spam is sent from US-based sources. China is also a significant launching pad, and the rest of spam originates from around the globe. Spammers continue to favor large email providers as being associated with the sender's address (forged forge 1 n. 1. A furnace or hearth where metals are heated or wrought; a smithy. 2. A workshop where pig iron is transformed into wrought iron. v. , needless to say). For example, user names including msn.com and hotmail.com appear as the "sender" in 1.98% of global spam; yahoo.com and its subsidiaries (e.g. yahoo.co.uk) appear in 1.68% of spam; aol.com in 0.53% and gmail.com in 0.52% of global spam. Country of Origin % of Global Spam United States 53.93% China 10.32% Republic of Korea 3.68% Germany 3.12% United Kingdom 2.64% Canada 2.53% Others 23.79% Find interactive charts, updated daily and available for downloading downloading - download , at: http://www.commtouch.com/Site/ResearchLab/statistics.asp Major Spam Categories After the October aberration in which gifts ranked first, pharmaceuticals are back at the top of the spam category list. Pharmaceuticals accounted for nearly 39% of all November spam, according to Commtouch Detection Center spam statistics.
Topic % of spam Examples
Pharma 38.74% "You can save up to 70% on Cialis!";
"We cure any disease!"
Enhancers 20.60% "Wanna be more man? Check this dude"
Gifts 18.68% "Timeless elegance"; "Jaeger Le Coultre
Watches"
Finance 10.25% "Why pay money to borrow money?"; "Rates
locked in @ 3.72%"
Porn/Date 5.02% "Let us match you with a REAL person!";
"A mate for you nearby"
Software 2.45% Office 2003, Freehand MX 11, Corel
Software
Fraud 0.64% "Paypal - Unlock your account"; "Please
validate your eBay information"
Other 3.63%
About Commtouch Commtouch Software Ltd. (Nasdaq:CTCH) is dedicated to protecting and preserving the integrity of the world's most important communications tool -- email. Commtouch has 14 years of experience developing messaging software, and is a global developer and provider of proprietary anti-spam and Zero-Hour(TM) virus protection solutions. Using core technologies including RPD(TM) Recurrent recurrent /re·cur·rent/ (re-kur´ent) [L. recurrens returning] 1. running back, or toward the source. 2. returning after remissions. re·cur·rent adj. 1. Pattern Detection, the Commtouch Detection Center analyzes billions of email messages per month to identify new spam and malware (MALicious softWARE) Software designed to destroy, aggravate and otherwise make life unhappy. See crimeware, virus, worm, logic bomb, macro virus and Trojan. outbreaks within minutes of their introduction into the Internet Internet Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the . Integrated by over 35 OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and partners, Commtouch technology protects thousands of organizations, with 35 million users in 130 countries. Commtouch is headquartered in Netanya, Israel and has a subsidiary in Mountain View, CA. For more information, see: www.commtouch.com. This press release contains forward-looking statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. , including projections about our business, within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. For example, statements in the future tense future tense n. A verb tense expressing future time. Noun 1. future tense - a verb tense that expresses actions or states in the future future , and statements including words such as "expect," "plan," "estimate," "anticipate," or "believe" are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on information available to us at the time of the release; we assume no obligation to update any of them. The statements in this release are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ materially from our current expectations as a result of numerous factors, including business conditions and growth or deterioration de·te·ri·o·ra·tion n. The process or condition of becoming worse. in the Internet market, commerce and the general economy, both domestic as well as international; fewer than expected new-partner relationships; fewer than expected license agreements resulting from Commtouch's exclusive rights to market DCC (1) (Direct Cable Connection) A Windows 95/98 feature that allows PCs to be cabled together for data transfer. DCC actually sets up a network connection between the two machines. ; competitive factors including pricing pressures; technological developments, and products offered by competitors; the ability of our OEM partners to successfully penetrate markets with products integrated with Commtouch technology; a slower than expected acceptance rate for real time AV solutions in general and the Commtouch Zero-Hour(TM) Virus Protection product in particular; availability of qualified staff for expansion; technological difficulties and resource constraints CONSTRAINTS - A language for solving constraints using value inference. ["CONSTRAINTS: A Language for Expressing Almost-Hierarchical Descriptions", G.J. Sussman et al, Artif Intell 14(1):1-39 (Aug 1980)]. encountered in developing new products, such as the Zero-Hour solution; and the failure of Commtouch to meet The NASDAQ Capital Market's listing standards in the future, as well as those risks described in the text of this press release and the company's Annual Reports on Form 20-F and reports on Form 6-K, which are available through www.sec.gov. Recurrent Pattern Detection, RPD and Zero-Hour are trademarks, and Commtouch is a registered trademark, of Commtouch Software Ltd. U.S. Patent No. 6,330,590 is owned by Commtouch. |
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