Multi-award winning managed security services firm, Network Box Corporation, noticed an unusual increase in email-based malware last month, occurring globally.

“The malware is coming in from hundreds of thousands of sources in emails with varying subjects. So far, our heuristics such as NBH-BGTRACK and zero-day Z-scan protection systems are holding it back, but the increase is more than four times baseline and all the samples we are seeing are emerging as never-before-seen zero-day threats. We expect that this increased activity is caused by botnet herders attempting to increase their size”, said Mark Webb-Johnson, Network Box Corporation CTO. Accordingly, Network Box’s alert condition has been raised to 3 and is consistently monitoring the situation closely.

The company continuously defends the networks of its customers by using PUSH technology to instantaneously update protection. In fact, Network Box is the only integrated managed solution in a virtual environment, comprising the three layers of security necessary to protect a network:

  • A virtual unified threat management (UTM) appliance - Network Box’s award-winning UTM device includes firewall, intrusion detection and prevention, anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-phishing, and anti-spyware;
  • Network operation centers (NOCs) that monitor and manage the UTMs; and
  • Security response - When a new malware signature or security patch becomes available, Network Box pushes it out through its regional NOCs within three seconds and onto all end-user UTM devices worldwide within 45 seconds.

In addition, there has been a huge increase in the propagation of mobile-targeted malware last month as well, with up to 200,000 downloads of malicious apps from the 'Android Market' alone. The malware in question was designed to do all manner of harm to users' devices, from sending text messages to premium-rate numbers, to stealing personal data, including passwords and credit card numbers. To combat these threats, Network Box utilizes a multi-engine strategy for anti-malware, including its own award winning 'Z-Scan AV' engine, which specifically targets zero-day viruses.

“We will continue to closely monitor mobile malware, and take any necessary proactive, and reactive steps, to protect our customers,” said Mark Webb-Johnson, Network Box Corporation CTO.

For more than ten years now, Kaspersky AV technology has been at the heart of every Network Box UTM+ (Unified Threat Management Plus) system. Coupled with Network Box's multi-award winning PUSH technology, new threat signatures are delivered in an average of less than 45 seconds.

Furthermore, mobile malware signatures are now automatically added to Kaspersky Anti-Virus malware databases, meaning that all Network Box UTM+ systems are automatically protected from mobile malware threats as well. For example, if a mobile user tries to download a malicious application on a Wi-Fi network protected by a Network Box UTM+ system, they would get a message informing them about the threat, and the download would automatically be aborted.