Attacks on confidential information on increase
Attacks on confidential information on increase
Mar 22, 2005: Symantec's newest Internet Security Threat Report has revealed that there has been an increase in attacks against web applications, threats to windows, easy to exploit vulnerabilities and phishing scams.
Between July 1st and December 31st, 2004, malicious code created to expose confidential information represented 54 percent of the top 50 malicious code samples received by Symantec, which is up from 44 percent in the first six months of the year and 36 percent in the second half of 2003.
Symantec has reported that is partially due to the proliferation of Trojan horses.Between July 1st and December 31st, 2004, Trojans represented 33 percent of the top 50 malicious code reported to Symantec.
Arthur Wong, the vice president of Symantec's security response and managed security services, said: "Attackers are launching increasingly sophisticated attacks in an effort to compromise the integrity of corporate and personal information.
"By offering not only an unparalleled view of current Internet threat activity but also critical insights regarding future trends, Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report serves as an invaluable tool for enabling businesses and individuals to safeguard the security and availability of their information assets no matter what."
Nearly 48 percent of all vulnerabilities documented between July 1st and December 31st, 2004 were web application vulnerabilities, which is a significant increase from the 39 percent documented in the previous six-month period.
The failure to prevent, detect or remove Windows viruses meant resulted in severe financial losses for companies, the disclosure of confidential information, and the loss of data.
As for exploitable vulnerabilities, during the period that Symantec carried out its survey, it found 1,403 new vulnerabilities, which equates into more than 54 new vulnerabilities per week or almost eight new vulnerabilities per day.
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