Fortinet IDs Two New Malware Variants Targeting Facebook

PRESS RELEASE

SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 5, 2011 - Fortinet' (NASDAQ: FTNT) – a leading network security provider and the worldwide leader of unified threat management (UTM) solutions – today released its latest Threat Landscape report, which details two new malware variants targeting Facebook users. The malware, which is intended to look as though they’re coming from Facebook, claim that the users’ Facebook passwords have been reset and a malicious attachment has their new passwords. Clicking on the attachment can lead to immediate infection.

“The Facebook malware variants we examined are botnet loaders, which, upon execution, connect to a command and control server to download and display a document that reveals a bogus password in an effort to look legitimate,” said Derek Manky, senior security strategist at Fortinet. “Afterwards, the botnet continues to run in the background and requests files to download and execute, one by one. Always beware of file attachments, never disclose information generated by an unsolicited request, and attempt to confirm identities of those who contact you.”

Spam Activity Stays Down

On April 16, a large Coreflood (circa 2002) botnet operation was dismantled by the FBI in the largest enforcement action of its kind in U.S. history. Servers and domains controlled by an international group of cyber criminals were seized. This particular botnet had infected 2.3 million machines and millions of dollars were stolen from unsuspecting computer users.

“Coreflood comes off the heels of the Rustock botnet, which was taken offline mid-March with the help of Microsoft and a number of Federal agencies,” Manky continued. “As a result, two major botnets have dwindled and global spam rates have remained about 15 percent lower than they were before Rustock's downfall.”

About FortiGuard Labs

FortiGuard Labs compiled threat statistics and trends for this threat period based on data collected from FortiGate' network security appliances and intelligence systems in production worldwide. Customers who use Fortinet’s FortiGuard Services should be protected against this vulnerability with the appropriate configuration parameters in place.

FortiGuard Services offer broad security solutions including antivirus, intrusion prevention, Web content filtering and anti-spam capabilities. These services help protect against threats on both application and network layers. FortiGuard Services are updated by FortiGuard Labs, which enables Fortinet to deliver a combination of multi-layered security intelligence and zero-day protection from new and emerging threats. For customers with a subscription to FortiGuard, these updates are delivered to all FortiGate', FortiMail™ and FortiClient™ products.

The full Threat Landscape report, which includes the top threat rankings in several categories, is available now. Ongoing research can be found in the FortiGuard Center or via FortiGuard Labs’ RSS feed. Additional discussion on security technologies and threat analysis can be found at the Fortinet Security Blog and Fortinet’s monthly Security Minute videocast.