Malware Viruses: Hot Trends
NEW YORK (
) -- "Malware viruses" is a trending topic on the Internet today following reports that the proliferation of viruses and harmful software has reached record levels of approximately 55,000 new pieces each day.
The data comes from
McAfee's
(MFE)
second-quarter threats report, which showed the first six months of 2010 to be the most active period for total malware production. The amount of spam reported was also up 2.5%.
"Cybercriminals are becoming more in tune with what the general public is passionate about from a technology perspective and using it to lure unsuspecting victims," said Mike Gallagher, senior vice president and chief technology officer of global threat intelligence for McAfee.
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In the first half of the year, 10 million new pieces of malware were cataloged. Portable storage devices received the most malware threats, followed by fake anti-virus software and malware specifically designed to infiltrate social media.
"These findings indicate that not only should cybercrime education be more widespread, but that security organizations should move from a reactive to a predictive security strategy," said Gallagher.
McAfee's anti-virus software rivals include
Symantec
(SYMC) - Get Report
, which makes Norton virus protection software, and
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Report
.
"Wireless data plans" is a popular search topic on
Yahoo!
(YHOO)
this morning following reports that unlimited cell phone data plans are starting to disappear.
Service providers are considering dispensing with the traditional full-package fee model in favor of an a la carte fee system for smartphone users, charging for each of their phones' functions -- from text messaging, to email, to Internet browsing and gaming.
>>Prepaid Phone Plans Finally Get Real
This tiered pricing has been picked up by
AT&T
(T) - Get Report
and reports say that
Verizon
(VZ) - Get Report
may be in the process of transferring to this type of pay model.
"Government debt" is a trending search topic today after news that the national debt has reached $13.3 trillion after 2 years of heavy federal spending. At this rate of spending the debt will reach $26 trillion in a decade.
The government is more worried by data showing that in recent months the pace of economic recovery and employment has slowed.
A recent release by the
said that household spending is gradually increasing, but it "remains constrained by high unemployment, modest income growth, lower housing wealth and tight credit."
The Fed also announced its ongoing plan to lower the government debt by re-investing money from its mortgage securities. It pledged to do whatever is necessary to promote economic recovery.
The chatter on Main Street (a.k.a. Google) is always of interest to investors on Wall Street. Thus, each day, TheStreet compiles the stories that are trending on Google, and highlights the news that could make stocks move.
-- Reported by Theresa McCabe in Boston.
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