Rogue PDFs account for 80% of all exploits, says researcher

Hackers are exploiting the vulnerabilities of PDFs. And these PDFs are not caught by virus scanners. A company may be infected with multiple viruses every week and have no means of protection. More effort needs to be made by companies to protect themselves against these kinds of attacks.

In the first quarter of 2009, malicious PDF files made up 56% of all exploits tracked by ScanSafe. That figure climbed above 60% in the second quarter, over 70% in the third and finished at 80% in the fourth quarter.”

PDF exploits are usually the first ones attempted by attackers,” said Mary Landesman, a ScanSafe senior security researcher, referring to the multi-exploit hammering that hackers typically give visitors to malicious Web sites. “Attackers are choosing PDFs for a reason. It’s not random. They’re establishing a preference for Reader exploits.”

via Rogue PDFs account for 80% of all exploits, says researcher.