Over the month of February, 2.8 per cent of all e-mails contained malicious files, which is 1.5 per cent lower than the previous month.

For the second month in a row, the US topped the list of countries with most mail antivirus detections, although the number for the US has declined slightly compared to January.

Russia has left the Top 10 of countries with most Kaspersky Mail Antivirus detections, giving its place to Brazil. India has moved from the fourth to the sixth place after losing some 1.5 per cent and being overtaken by Germany.

“The decreasing share of spam containing malicious attachments is most probably a passing phenomenon,” said Maria Namestnikova, senior spam analyst at Kaspersky Lab.

“It is very unlikely that spammers would give up participation in malware distribution partnership programs, especially at a time when the level of contract spam in the Internet domains of the developing countries is decreasing because of the economic crisis.”

The ranking of spam “states of origin” has seen virtually no change. India holds tightly on its leaders’ status, Indonesia and Brazil are next on the list. All in all, the 12 positions are taken by the same players as in the previous month, although some have swapped places.

The number of antiphishing detections is up 3.5 per cent on sites aimed at stealing the credentials of social network users. Facebook users were the most popular target for phishers in February.

At the same time, online stores and auctions saw a 3 per cent drop in the number of detections. Amazon, the popular online store, has ceded some ground after being a leader in January. – TradeArabia News Service