Study Finds Infected Web Pages on the Rise

[lonster]

A study conducted by security company Sophos has yielded some unnerving findings: an unprecedented number of threats targeting Web pages, with an average of 15,000 infected Web pages detected per day. Even more disturbing, these infected Web pages are mostly legitimate sites, not sites set up specifically to host malicious attacks.
A year ago, one out of every 909 e-mails was infected with malicious code. In the first quarter of 2008, only one out of every 2,500 was infected. Good news? Not really. All it means is that the attackers have changed tactics to overcome the defenses you're building, according to security company Sophos.
"As companies implement better e-mail defenses, the hackers are looking for new avenues of attack. E-mail also lacks some of the flexibility that Web-based attacks can offer," said Richard Wang, U.S. SophosLabs Manager.

A study done by Sophos that examines the security events and trends of the first quarter of this year showed that the decline in attacks against e-mail was balanced by what the company calls "an unprecedented number of threats" targeting Web pages. Last year, the company detected an average of roughly 5,000 infected Web pages a day; this quarter, the average is 15,000 per day. That's one new infected Web page every five seconds.

And these are sites you may well visit: 79 percent are legitimate sites, not sites set up specifically to host malicious attacks.

Web Threats Based in the United States

"The Web gives hackers an easy way to deliver software to their victims," Wang said. "It also allows them to change the software they are using at a moment's notice. This makes the Web far more flexible as an attack vector than e-mail."

Companies in the United States are taking the worst beating from the switch in tactics, with domestic companies now unwittingly hosting the greatest number of malicious content . (Last year, the number-one spot was held by China.)

"The most likely cause of this is the hackers' move away from purpose-built malicious Web sites. The vast majority of sites that we now see hosting malware are legitimate sites that hackers have broken into and added their own code. All kinds of sites, from auto parts to Web design, are now hosting dangerous software," Wang told us.

No one is immune from malware, with attackers taking pains to ensure that different browsers and operating systems are treated equally. According to Wang, "If a user browses to an infected Web page, the hacker can deliver different attack software depending on the operating system and browser that the user has. A Windows user with Internet Explorer will experience a different attack from a Mac OS X user with Safari."

Spam and Phishing: A Nuisance and a Threat

The Sophos report also shows that more than 92 percent of all e-mail sent in the first quarter of this year was spam . "The sheer number of Web sites related to spam is growing at an incredible rate," Wang said. "Sophos finds over 23,000 new spam-related sites every day -- that's about one every three seconds." Expect to find more spam in your in-box, Sophos says, as spammers continue to bypass CAPTCHA systems meant to distinguish humans from automated spambots.

Also on the increase are attacks aimed at individuals, Wang said. "We have seen a significant increase in targeted phishing attacks, also known as 'spear-phishing.' In these attacks, people known to belong to a specific organization or group are precisely targeted. We have seen spear-phishing attacks against college students, ISP users, and even CEOs."

The best defense, Sophos says, is to defend Web and e-mail gateways, protect end-point devices, and educate users on safe computing practices.

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[TheShadowFL]

I'm in the computer business and Computer Security is my speciallity as well as my hobby.
I find it much easier to prevent malware from ever getting on a PC, than it is to remove it once it's set up shop on your HD.

Three very good programs that block your browser from ever going to bad sites are:
Spybot Search & Destroy (use the Immunize feature)
Spyware Blaster
Host Manager (downloads and installs custom hosts files that block your browser from ever going to bad sites.)

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"

The Shadow

[tattooz2005]

I use Norton Ghost version 14 myself...
This WILL rip out any thing that makes it into your drive... as long as it was installed into a clean system to begin with

[Bud_Alcor]

Thanks > ia had use Spybot and is easy to use and really help me alot about 2weeks ago.

[tattooz2005]

Spy Bot is a great program as well...

[gooly]

Originally Posted by Bud_Alcor

Thanks > ia had use Spybot and is easy to use and really help me alot about 2weeks ago.

It's always the good looking guys that get attacked, hey bud.

[SoDarkTheCon]

Norton 360 and common sense allows me to avoid any intrusions.

[gooly]

Originally Posted by SoDarkTheCon

Norton 360 and common sense allows me to avoid any intrusions.

I can't seem to find the common sense program. Is it a free download?

[tattooz2005]

Originally Posted by gooly

I can't seem to find the common sense program. Is it a free download?

Free, yes however oh so very rare to find