Blended Attacks Contributed Highest to Online Threats Last Year

A report on security trends in 2007, based on research of Internet Security Systems (ISS) X-Force of IBM, suggests that Web browsers are increasingly working as fortified platform for organized crime, as reported by Infoworl on February 12, 2008.

Security researchers at IBM's ISS unit said that cyber criminals are extensively using 'camouflaging' techniques. The X-Force reports that in 2006, only a small number of attackers used camouflaging techniques whereas by the time 2007 ended, almost all attackers employed camouflage techniques to launch attacks.

Operations Manager Krish Lamb of X-Force Research and Development, IBM Internet Security Systems, said that this is the first time when Internet attackers are using such aggressive measures for spreading infection and evading security. While security experts may claim victories over identifying attacks, but computer attackers are applying their vicious methods and continuing their impact on Internet users. Internetnews reported this on February 12, 2008.

In the report by X-Force, it is claimed that the rate of growth of malware codes was 30%, counting to 410,000 during 2007. In particular, the Storm worm alone was responsible for 13% of the total malware.

Based on its analysis of malware code, IBM ISS pointed out that there has been a transition from worms, designed to spread through mass e-mails, to sophisticated Trojan attacks, targeting specific users with rootkits and other blended attacks. trojans had been the only largest malicious program in 2007, comprising of 26% of all malware samples. Further, according to IBM ISS, this malware is becoming more common in comparison to a worm, virus, backdoor, password stealer, or spyware.

Also, the IBM ISS report suggests that Microsoft, Oracle, Apple, Cisco, and IBM together made up for 13.6% of all vulnerabilities, leaving 20% of them unpatched.

According to Kris Lamb, one issue of the threat analysis of 2007 that struck him is that 50% of the vulnerabilities known from vendors' report did not have patches for them, as reported by InfoWorld on February 12, 2008.

The abstract of the IBM ISS report about the threat scenario relies on the study of software vulnerabilities, malware, phishing, and sites open to content posting.

Related article: Blended Malware Attacks On The rise

» SPAMfighter News - 2/19/2008