SUNWAY, 17 OCTOBER - Cyber-criminals have stepped up the frequency in attacks across the globe, particularly within the Asia-Pacific region, say officials from Fortinet, a network security and unified threat management solutions provider.

In a press conference held today, Derek Manky (pictured right), the Project Manager of Fortinet's Cyber Security & Threat Research division, explained that botnets and malware attacks in the Asia-Pacific region have increased in recent months. One of these threats included the Bredolab Trojan downloader, which was said to have had a recorded activity of 2 million hits last month. Utilizing the ZBot keylogger, the company stated that nearby Thailand seemed to experience the 3^rd highest number of Bredolab attacks in Asia.

When it came to critical exploits affecting Malaysian corporations, Fortinet stated that the Conficker worm topped the list despite being around for about a year. Manky further attributed this to the inconsistent patch management practiced by certain local corporations. The company also mentioned that 99 percent of security breaches have been blamed on improper configurations set by system administrators.

When quizzed on why the Asia-Pacific region was encountering more malware attacks, than any other regions worldwide, Manky replied that it was not only cheaper to deploy an attack in Asia, but that the region also enjoyed a much larger infection base, with more computers for attackers to infect at their disposal.

Fortinet also witnessed a large number of attacks towards smartphones, especially that of Symbian OS. Manky stated that this was not due to Symbian having a weaker system, but that it had a larger presence in the smartphone market. Although Fortinet doesn't have records on the amount of revenue generated by cyber criminals across the globe, Manky speculates that the amount is ludicrously high, with malware frameworks selling anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars each.