Highlights of Symantec's 10th Internet security threat report

Sunday, 01 October 2006

(CP) - Highlights of Symantec's 10th Internet security threat report: Attack Trends -Microsoft Internet Explorer most frequently targeted web browser; accounted for 47 per cent of all browser attacks. -United States target of the most denial-of-service attacks - 54 per cent of worldwide total - while Internet service providers most frequently targeted sector. -United States top country of attack origin, 37 per cent of worldwide total. Vulnerability Trends -Symantec documented 2,249 new vulnerabilities in first six months of 2006, up 18 per cent over second half of 2005, highest ever recorded in a six-month period. -Web-application vulnerabilities made up 69 per cent of all vulnerabilities in reporting period. -Eighty per cent of newly disclosed vulnerabilities considered easily exploitable, with 78 per cent of that total affecting web applications. -Internet Explorer had average window of exposure of nine days, followed by Apple Safari at five days and Mozilla one day. Malicious Code Trends -Eighteen per cent of all distinct malicious code samples detected by Symantec "honey-pot" system in first six months of 2006 not previously seen. -Most prevalent new malicious code was Polip family of polymorphic viruses, elusive and hard to remove. -Worms made up 38 of top 50 malicious codes. -Symantec documented 6,784 new Win32 viruses and worms. -Thirty of top 50 malicious code samples exposed confidential information. Phishing and Spam -Symantec detected 157,477 unique phishing messages in first half of 2006, up 81 per cent over previous reporting period, with financial services most heavily phished. -Spam made up 54 per cent of all monitored e-mail traffic, up 50 per cent. -U.S. source of 58 per cent of all spam detected worldwide. Future Watch -Use of polymorphic viruses likely to grow because they're hard to detect and remove. -Growth of web-based applications will increase attack potential, exposing large numbers of users to more attacks. -Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, scheduled for release in 2007, likely to be a battleground as researchers try to find and document its shortcomings and hackers try to circumvent its new security features. Source: here

 

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