As we turn the page to 2012, it makes sense to sit back and take a look at what happened during the past twelve months in the IT Security world. If we were to summarize the year in one word, I think it would probably be “explosive.” The multitude of incidents, stories, facts, new trends and intriguing actors is so big that it makes it very hard to crack into top 10 of security stories of 2011.

What I was aiming for with this list is to remember the stories that also indicate major trends or the emergence of major actors on the security scene. By looking at these stories, we can get an idea of what will happen in 2012.

I now travel a lot. Trips - mostly business - make up about half my life.
Conferences, exhibitions, meetings (with short stops at the seaside or ski resorts if I stop at all). And at these events I'm asked lots of different questions. Last year one of the most frequently asked questions was my opinion about Microsoft's anti-virus, and the changes it might cause in the anti-virus industry.

That question started me thinking about the situation on the anti-virus market - and here's the result

The use of malicious code tends to follow well-trodden channels: in other words, if software is widely used, then virus writers will focus their efforts on exploiting its vulnerabilites. A recent report suggests that the use of instant messaging will increase considerably in the next few years. We've already seen an increase in IM worms. If IDC is correct about the growth of IM, virus writers will almost certainly continue to target it further.

The anatomy of the Bozori worm outbreaks that we've seen in the last day or so leads us to believe that we're witnessing the emergence of a new type of infection, what we're calling the 'business worm'.

Read the full story here

Full descriptions of Bagle.ax and Bagle.ay are now available.