The period between March 21st and April 20th saw both overall and distinct malware volumes significantly increase around the globe, according to a new survey.

Fortinet's April 2009 Threatscape Report found that malware volumes hit their highest levels for the entire year, posing a threat to small businesses in IT.

China experienced the worst distinct malware attacks, followed by Japan and the US, with all three accounting for a 44.86 per cent global share of the malicious coding.
This marked an increase of 24.17 per cent on the previous report.

Phishing sites have also been on the rise, growing more than spyware during the period to show that viruses and other nefarious codes continue to grow in number, Fortinet added.

Derek Manky, Fortinet's project manager of cyber security and threat research, explained: "April was a busy month for cyber criminals who unleashed the most aggressive malware attacks thus far this year."

In related news, Trojan viruses accounted for seven of BitDefender's ten most prevalent threats for computers during April.

According to a recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent).