Fake security tools still big threat, worms on rise

SIRv7 also reported that worm infections rose by nearly 100 per cent compared to the preceding six months, thanks to Conficker and Taterf.

While spikes in infection rates are normal when new attacks are launched, they are usually just a "small bump," said Akif. "This is a little bit unusual," he said.

Akif added that the fact that these two worms spread as quickly and effectively as they did is a testament to the strength of these types of threats.

Conficker can spread through an enterprise that didn't have appropriate security rules in place, said Akif. Taterf, spreading primarily through the online gaming community, could still infect enterprises if the child of an employee had an infected PC from playing online games, and transferred infected files to the parent's PC, who then transferred them to work, said Akif.

SIRv7 also indicates that rogue, or fake, security software remains a major threat, although infections did drop by 20 per cent in the past six months.