The monthly GTR (Global Threat Report) from ScanSafe shows more Malware was blocked in July of 2008 than was blocked in all of 2007, representing a jump of 87 percent over June's report. ScanSafe, a Software-as-a-Service (SAAS) vendor, reported a 278 percent jump in Malware blocks during the fist six months through to June, and the trend got worse in July.
Report outlines July Malware blocks. More Malware blocked in July than all of 07. (IMG:J.Anderson)
Specifically, the first two weeks in July have shown a high volume of Malware blocks, compared to June alone. The increase in Web-based Malware was driven by the ongoing compromise of Web sites, which represented 83 percent of all Malware blocks for the month.
An increase in Malware blocks is largely the result of the continued SQL injection attacks. The number of infected and compromised sites accounted for 75 percent of all Malware blocked in July. As a result, July has had 34 percent more blocks than the whole of 2007.
The month of July also saw a bump in the total number of Social Engineering-related Spam. ScanSafe reported that, sadly, 95 percent of its own customers fell for these tricks and attempted to view malicious sites via links embedded inside e-mails. While protected ultimately, either by ScanSafe or another layer of defense on their systems, the attempts accounted for just over one percent of all Malware blocks in July.
“Although this may not seem like a high percentage, it is extremely significant given that these scams are now able to get past spam filters which typically provide a high level of protection from this type of socially engineered Malware,” said Mary Landesman, senior security researcher at ScanSafe. “It is disconcerting that cyber criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated in creating these scams, so much so that more and more people are falling for them.”
The GTR by ScanSafe is based on 10 million Internet requests each made by its business clients.
The entire report is online at the official ScanSafe Web site.
There are currently no comments for this article. Be the first to comment! (no registration required)
Advertising
There are currently no comments for this article. Be the first to comment! (no registration required)