London, UK - 22 February 2004, 12:30 GMT - On the eve of the RSA Conference on digital security in San Francisco, the mi2g Intelligence Unit predicts that the computer and communications industry does not have long before there will be a serious revolt from the layman on the street in regard to buying new computers, broadband connections and software without security guarantees. The mi2g Intelligence Unit data reveals that the number of the NetSky.b malware infections is rising fast over the weekend particularly across the Far East, Western Europe and North America. As a result, the total economic damage from the NetSky malware family, which infects computers running Windows only, has now reached 12th rank in "The Top 20" table of most damaging malware of all time maintained by mi2g since 1995. This makes it the third malware to enter the league table in 2004 alongside MyDoom (ranked 1st) and Bagle (ranked 20th). As of the start of 2004, the honeymoon period of a decade with the world wide web and digital technology is definitely over as spam, phishing scams and malware produce a worsening internet global epidemic scenario with every passing week.

[CONTINUES]

Full details of the January 2004 report are available as of 1st February 2004 and can be ordered from here. (To view contents sample please click here).

If you are already a member of the Inner Sanctum you should have been emailed a full copy. To retrieve the original article please fill out the order form.