SUNNYVALE, Calif.----Throughout the first quarter of 2007, server-side polymorphic malware exploded across email, exploiting the well known zero-hour vulnerability of traditional anti-virus solutions. The Q1 2007: Malware Outbreak Trends, released today by Commtouch NASDAQ:CTCH, shows how malware writers are using speed, variation and social engineering techniques to mass-distribute their malicious code across the Internet.

“The server-side polymorphic distribution pattern has proven a ‘success’ for malware writers. This method is so adept at evading anti-virus defenses, that it is now being adopted on a large scale,” said Haggai Carmon, Commtouch vice president of products. “By creating a massive number of distinct variants and releasing them in short, intense bursts, virus writers are able to release new variants so quickly that signatures or heuristics cannot be created quickly enough to protect against them all.” During a peak early in the quarter, the Storm/Nuwar malware released over 7,000 such variants in a single day.

Another growing tactic is the increasing utilization of social engineering techniques developed by spammers to help spam slip past email users’ defenses. Malware writers recently began adopting these methods on a large scale to help lure users to open messages and click on attachments. The Storm/Nuwar outbreak in mid-January used tabloid-style email Subjects like “230 dead as storm batters Europe,” “First nuclear act of terrorism!” and “a bouquet of love” to entice readers. In February the Tibs/Zhelatin email-borne malware disguised itself as a friendly Valentine’s Day greeting, coupling affectionate Subject line greetings with docile sounding file names.

Sample subject strings:

• 5 reasons i love you
• a song to you

Sample file names:

• flash postcard.exe
• greeting card.exe

The Nurech malware tries to fool its victims by adding benign sounding file signatures such as ‘.doc’, ‘.jpg’ and ‘.pdf’ before the ‘.exe’.

Sample malware file names:

• rechnung-single.de.doc.exe
• rechnung-singles.jpg.exe
• telekom.pdf.exe

“Once focused on searching for vulnerabilities in computer applications, virus writers are now exploiting the vulnerability of the anti-virus solutions themselves - the zero-hour,” explains Carmon. “This new breed of threats is making every hour of an attack a revolving zero-hour, and even the AV solutions need virus protection.”

Commtouch Zero-Hour™ Virus Outbreak Protection detects and blocks email-borne outbreaks, including server-side polymorphic malware within moments of their release on the Internet. Powered by its Recurrent Pattern Detection™ technology, Commtouch’s Zero-Hour service is offered to messaging, security and anti-virus vendors for OEM integration as a complementary outbreak detection solution.

To access the Q1 2007 Malware Outbreak Trends report, click http://www.commtouch.com/documents/Commtouch_2007_Q1_Malware_Trends.pd f Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.

About Commtouch

Commtouch Software Ltd. Nasdaq:CTCH is dedicated to protecting and preserving the integrity of the world's most important communications tool -- email. Commtouch has over 16 years of experience developing messaging software and is a global developer and provider of proprietary anti-spam, Zero-Hour virus protection and Reputation Service solutions. Using core technologies including RPD™ Recurrent Pattern Detection, the Commtouch Detection Center analyzes billions of email messages per month to identify new spam and malware outbreaks within minutes of their introduction into the Internet. Integrated by scores of OEM partners, Commtouch technology protects thousands of organizations, with over 50 million users in over 100 countries. Commtouch is headquartered in Netanya, Israel, and has a subsidiary in Sunnyvale, CA. For more information, see: www.commtouch.com, including the Commtouch online lab detailing spam statistics and charts.