Honestly, the whole idea of stating that malware is the biggest net threat is pretty vague. Since the term ‘malware’ is used as a broad categorization of various threats like viruses, Trojan Horses, worms, etc., saying that malware is the biggest net threat doesn’t really say much. They should have stated in the title that ‘web-based malware’ is the biggest net threat right now. At least by saying that, people can know that malicious websites as well as legitimate websites that have been compromised are the largest threat to people right now (versus things such as malware that propagates via email). Just make sure all of your security software is up-to-date with the most recent security definitions.

VIRUSES are no longer the realm of teenage hackers, as cyber criminals look to exploit them as a way to steal information and generate income.

Sophos last week released its Security Threat Report, looking at virus and spam trends over the first half of this year.

The main finding was the increase in the number of web-based malware attacks, with new malware detected up by 24 per cent to 49,629.

The percentage of emails that contained malicious attachments was down dramatically, but Sophos technology chief Paul Ducklin said the instances of web-based malware attacks had increased almost six-fold in the first half of the year.

“In January we noticed we were uncovering 5000 new URLs a day hosting malware, by June that number was up to almost 30,000 a day.

That’s a massive growth industry for the bad guys.”

Mr Ducklin said a future problem was infection of removable drives, such as USB sticks, cameras and mobile phones. However, wide evidence of this has yet to be seen.[more]

Tags: Malware