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p. 105<br />

Symantec Corporation<br />

Internet Security Threat Report <strong>2013</strong> :: Volume 18<br />

MALICIOUS CODE TRENDS<br />

Propagation Mechanisms<br />

Background<br />

Worms and viruses use various means to spread from one<br />

computer to another. These means are collectively referred to as<br />

propagation mechanisms. Propagation mechanisms can include<br />

a number of different vectors, such as instant messaging (IM),<br />

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Common Internet File<br />

System (CIFS), peer-to-peer file transfers (P2P), and remotely<br />

exploitable vulnerabilities. 3 Some malicious code may even use<br />

other malicious code as a propagation vector by locating<br />

a computer that has been compromised through a backdoor<br />

server and using it to upload and install itself.<br />

Methodology<br />

This metric assesses the prominence of propagation<br />

mechanisms used by malicious code. To determine this,<br />

Symantec analyzes the malicious code samples that propagate<br />

and ranks associated propagation mechanisms according to<br />

the related volumes of potential infections observed during the<br />

reporting period. 4

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