Originally published April 2 2005
Symantec industry report reveals continuing rise of internet security threats
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report, which covers the last six months of 2004, reveals that malicious code aimed at revealing confidential information were 54% of the top 50 malicious code samples received by Symantec. The figure is a 44 percent increase from the first six months of 2004. Phishing is also on the rise. Symantec's anti-fraud filters blocked about 33 million such attempts weekly, up 366 percent compared to the first six months of 2004.
SECURITY FIRM Symantec says security threats on the Interweb are still on the rise.
In its latest report on the matter - published today - the virus-buster turned all-round information security expert, says identity-theft attempts are now the most common form of web-based threat.
In the last six months of 2004, malicious code created with aim of exposing confidential information from wired PCs represented 54 percent of the top 50 malicious code samples received by the company, the report states.
The number of phishing attacks detected is also on the rise.
By the end of December 2004, Symantec said its antifraud filters were blocking an average of 33 million phishing attempts per week, up from an average of nine million per week in July 2004 - an increase of over 366 percent.
The company said it expects phishing to continue to be a very serious concern over the next year.
Symantec also reported a 77 per cent growth in spam for companies whose systems were monitored for spam; the weekly totals of spam raised from an average of 800 million spam messages per week to well over 1.2 billion spam messages per week by the end of the reporting period.
Moreover, spam made up more than 60 per cent of all e-mail traffic observed by Symantec during this period.
The Internet Security Threat Report, published today, is Symantec�(TM)s seventh bi-annual report on Internet security and cover the six-month period to the end of 2004.
A Symantec spokesman warned that attackers are launching "increasingly sophisticated attacks in an effort to compromise the integrity of corporate and personal information."
Symantec, of course, makes more money selling stuff to protect us from such internet scourges.
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