Malware reached its highest levels ever in the first six months of 2010, according to a new report from McAfee.

McAfee found 6 million malicious files in the second quarter, compared to 4 million in the first quarter.  Threats on portable storage devices were the most popular malware, followed by fake anti-virus software and social media specific malware. With 55,000 new pieces of malware that appear everyday, globally AutoRun malware and password-stealing Trojans round out the top two malware threats.

A few days ago, a Texas-based company called InNova Patent Licensing filed an infringement lawsuit against 36 well-known companies. The company claims to hold the patent on spam filtering, and appears to be resting on the notion that any company using spam filtering owes them.

Among the companies being sued are Google, Apple, AOL, Dell, HP, RIM, Yahoo, McAfee, Symantec, and Siemens. The list doesn’t stop at tech companies though. It also contains names like Frito Lay, Cinemark, J.C. Penney, Rent-A-Center, and Dr. Pepper.

McAfee has released the results of a study today, finding that nearly half of online teens have shared personal information with strangers. The study looked at this and other areas of concern for parents.

In the first quarter of 2010, a USB worm took the top spot for malware globally, according to a new report by McAfee.

Threats on portable storage devices took the lead for the most popular malware. AutoRun related infections held the No.1 and No. 3 spots due to the widespread adoption of removable devices, mainly USB drives.  A variety of password-stealing Trojans rounded out the top five. Those include generic downloaders, unwanted programs and gaming software that collects statistics anonymously. The popularity of these threats were consistent worldwide.

McAfee and Adgregate have partnered on what they’re calling the industry’s first secure advertising. WebProNews spoke with Brent Remai, VP of Consumer Marketing at McAfee about what this means for advertising.

Reuters is reporting that Google is now investigating the possibility that one or more Google employees could have been involved in the recent attack in China, but is not offering comment on any details. The news agency reports:

Win-win-win situations don’t crop up too often, but Facebook and McAfee seem to have orchestrated one on a very large scale.  The two companies announced this morning that they’ve partnered to provide Facebook’s users with free security software.

The possibility of global cyberwarfare has moved from fiction to reality, according to a new report from McAfee.

The report found that politically motivated cyberattacks have increased and five countries, including the United States, Russia, France, Israel and China, are now armed with cyberweapons.

Security firm McAfee has partnered with Adobe to develop software that will offer companies’ data protection and digital rights management.

McAfee will uses its policy-based data classification with Adobe’s policy-based document protection to allow organizations to secure business information such as intellectual property or regulatory compliance data.

McAfee released results from a study of 163 million online shoppers, and found that the majority of them are "digital window shoppers." In other words, they start shopping on a site, leave for a period of time, then return later to complete the sale.

According to McAfee’s findings, conversions were 11% higher for digital window shoppers who were shown a security cue, and the longer it took a customer to complete a sale, the more responsive they were to security cues.

Jessica Biel is now the most dangerous celebrity to search for on the Web, according to a new report from McAfee.

Fans searching for "Jessica Biel" or Jessica Biel downloads," Jessica Biel wallpaper," "Jessica Biel screensavers," Jessica Biel photos" and "Jessica Biel videos" have a one in five chance of visiting a website that’s tested positive for online threats, such as spyware, adware, spam, phishing, viruses and other malware.

Spam volumes have risen 141 percent since March, continuing the longest streak of increasing spam volumes ever, according to McAfee’s Q2 Threats Report, released today.

More that 14 million computers have been hit by botnets, a 16 percent increase over last quarter.

McAfee researchers also found that, over the course of 30 days, Auto-Run malware had infected more than 27 million files. Auto-Run malware, which exploits Windows’ Auto-Run capabilities, does not require any user clicks to activate, and is most often spread through portable USB and storage devices.

The economy has not played a significant roll in the way people shop online, according to a new study released by McAfee and conducted by Harris Interactive.

Some of the riskiest searches on the Internet currently have to do with finding items for free, or looking for work that can be done from home, according to a new report from McAfee.

Search categories like these are used to lure unsuspecting consumers to their websites. Cybercriminals are often able to convince users to download files carrying, malicious software that can cause people to expose personal and financial information.

McAfee has introduced a free online Cybercrime Response Unit aimed at detecting cybercrime and helping users recover from it.

"With physical crime you know right away if your house has been broken into or your car has been stolen, but with cybercrime, it’s not that obvious. Most people don’t even know they’re a victim, and they rarely know what to do next," said McAfee President and Chief Executive Officer Dave DeWalt.

Can spam cause damage to the environment and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions?

That’s what a study from McAfee and climate-change researchers ICF have concluded. The study "Carbon Footprint of Spam" released today, found the global annual energy used to transmit, process and filter spam totals 33 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), or 33 terawatt hours (TWh).

That’s equal to the electricity used in 2.4 million homes, with the same green-house gas as 3.1 million passenger cars using 2 billion gallons of gas.

Actor Brad Pitt has surpassed Paris Hilton to become the most dangerous celebrity to search for on the Web according to Internet security company McAfee.

Users searching for "Brad Pitt," "Brad Pitt downloads," and Brad Pitt wallpaper, screen savers and pictures have an 18 percent chance of having their PCs infected with online threats, such as spyware, adware, viruses and other malware.

Cybercriminals are also using names and images, like Beyonce and Justin Timberlake, to attract Internet users to bogus web sites that look legitimate.

When it comes to dangerous domains Hong Kong is the leader according to a new report from McAfee, "Mapping the Mal Web Revisited."

The report found that 19.2 percent of all Web sites ending in the .hk domain pose some kind of security threat to Internet users. China (.cn) took the second spot with 11 percent.

Yahoo opened the beta test of SearchScan in several countries to help safeguard people against potentially dangerous links in their search results.

The Federal Trade Commission settled a case with the sexually explicit website over its ads, which popped up with graphic content.

A new study by a major internet security company is taking aim at typosquatting, the practice of buying a misspelled domain name in the hopes that someone will mistype the name and land on that site.

If someone then clicks on an text ad on the site the domain owner and the parking company will make money.

While the internet security company is trying to point out the problem of typosquatting, a problem that I do not necessarily agree with, they seem to be implying that the domain parking companies are part of the problem.