Malware attacks are broadening in 2009
Sophos security threat report recommends social networking sites improve malware protection as cybercriminals increase focus of attacks on Web 2.0 platforms.
Six months of increasing malware activity
Sophos discovers 23,500 new infected webpages are discovered every day. That’s one every 3.6 seconds, four times worse than in 2007.
15 new bogus anti-virus vendor websites are discovered every day. This number has tripled, up from an average of five detected per day, during 2008.
Listen to this Q&A with Graham Cluley on the 2009 security threat landscape:
Security threat report: July 2009 update
2009 has proven attacks are continuing to broaden. Although the number of web-based malware attacks outweighs the attacks through email, financially motivated cybercriminals are turning their attention to Web 2.0 platforms such as Facebook and Twitter and alternative programs and tools such as Adobe Flash and PDFs.
Businesses adopting new technologies, and workers bringing software and devices into the workplace to facilitate communication and information-gathering, are giving hackers new opportunities for exploitation.
Sophos receives 40,000 unique suspicious files every day — accounting for 28 unique files every minute, 24 hours a day. Independent testing agency, AV-Test.org, currently counts over 22.5 million unique samples of malware in its collection — compared to 12.3 million in June 2008, demonstrating that the scale of the problem has almost doubled.
It's clear that the global criminal operation has reached such a level that it's a true "conveyor belt of crime." To defend against these attacks, businesses must strengthen defenses and get proper malware protection in place.
