SAN FRANCISCO – SaaS Web Security provider Scansafe issued its Annual Global Threat Report Wednesday. Not surprisingly, the report reveals that there has been an explosive growth in malware throughout 2008.
ScanSafe noted that there has been an overwhelming 582 percent growth between like quarters in 2007 and 2008 and a 300 percent volume ratio increase from January 2008 through December 2008. Exploits and iframes were up 1731 percent in 2008, while data-theft Trojans increased 1559 percent.
“We saw a continued acceleration of Web-delivered malware in 2008, reaching significant peaks in both October and November. The numbers are staggering,” said Mary Landesman, senior security researcher, ScanSafe. “There is a high correlation of increased online crime with the decline in the global economy. It could be that the increasing levels of job loss and uncertainty are fueling the surge in criminal activity. It is also likely that cyber crime is proving to be a viable business opportunity in a climate where legitimate opportunities are becoming increasingly more limited.”
The report also concluded that the Web is now a massive front for data harvesting. Cyber criminals in 2008 showed a change of intent and are now focused on the ongoing targeting and harvesting of sensitive data. Most of the malware delivered through the Web provides remote customization and configurability, enabling criminal attackers to target specific data and to remotely manage how that data is obtained. For home users, gaming credentials or credit card numbers could be at risk. For enterprises, there is the possibility of intellectual property theft and the potential to eavesdrop on all network transmissions via ARP poisoning or other man-in-the-middle attacks.
The report also noted the credit crunch is fueling data theft. In 2008, 14 percent of all ScanSafe Web malware blocks were the result of encounters with data theft Trojans, compared to 6% in 2007. Towards the end of the year (Q4) when the credit crunch was in full swing, they saw the largest growth in this category of threats. Not only did October and November 2008 show the highest levels of Web malware blocks but they also showed a heavy saturation of data theft Trojans.
Ironically, one result of these developments is that trusted sites pose the greatest risk. In April 2008 ScanSafe counted an excess of 780,000 malicious Web pages from only five vertical interest sectors as a result of a single SQL injection attack. As a result of the continuing mass compromise of legitimate websites observed throughout 2008, the standard ‘safe surfing’ advice of avoiding unknown or non-trusted websites no longer applies. Today, it is the trusted sites that should be viewed as posing the greatest risk to Web surfers.
The report is based on an analysis of more than 240 billion Web requests processed in 2008 by the ScanSafe Threat Center on behalf of the company’s corporate customers in more than 80 countries.
This column was written by Mark Cox of ConnectIT, an IntegratedMarCompany
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