Russia Is World Leader in Security Software

Is Russia an IT superpower and top malicious software distributor?

In the last few years, the answer is a resounding ‘yes’. This year Russia accounts for 27.9 percent of malware software, as compared with China's 26.5 percent. According to news sources, the United States, which had been the second largest producer in prior surveys, is now in third place, accounting for a bit less than 10 percent of malware. Income gleaned from Russia’s expanding spyware empire still cannot compare to the tens of billions of dollars it earns each year from the nation’s natural resources. Russia is also known as a hotbed for spam (and we don’t mean meat) to boot.

Is this leadership in software generation connected with the demise of the Russian Business Network?

The Russian Business Network was a well-known malicious software distributor, but its recent death has not in any way slowed down Russia’s production of malicious code.

PC Tools malware analyst, Sergei Shevchenko, said:

“The vacuum left by the RBN has been filled by other malware distributors. The bottom line is that there are more viruses coming out of Russia now than ever before and the complexity of this malware is also increasing. Now we are seeing Russian malware hosting services being advertised for servers in Malaysia, China, Panama, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey and India.”

He also commented that the smaller operations replacing the now defunct RBN, are much more difficult to keep track of than their predecessor.

What lies ahead with Russia’s supremacy in malicious software?

Only time will tell what will come of all this. Considering Russia’s technological tradition that launched the world’s first space satellite and its highly skilled computer technicians and mathematicians, being the largest generator of malware does seem an odd record to boast about and maintain.

Go figure.