Highlights of IBM Security Report

August 26, Network World – (International) Trojan attacks up, phishing attacks down this year, IBM finds. Spam-based phishing attacks declined noticeably during the first half of the year, but cyber-criminals may simply be shifting to other technologies found to be more effective in stealing personal data, according to IBM in its semi-annual security threat report. “The decline in phishing and increases in other areas (such as banking Trojans) indicate the attackers may be moving their resources to other methods to obtain the gains that phishing once achieved,” is the explanation offered in the “IBM Internet Security Systems 2009 Mid-Year Trend & Risk Report.” It says Russia is the top country of origin for phishing e-mails, with 7.2 percent share, while China is the top hosting country for spam URLs. IBM’s semi-annual security report presents a broad view of trends based on its own analysis of volumes of sensor data, Web crawling technologies and other resources used to gather information through its Internet Security Systems division. In the first half of 2009, 55 percent of the new malware seen was Trojans, an increase of 9 percent over last year, the report says. Trojan malware, which includes components called downloaders and info- stealers, are mainly being used in the form of “public-available toolkits” that are “easy to use” by criminals, the report points out. The number of malicious Web links used to trick users into downloading malware or visiting dangerous sites has increased, up 508 percent in the first half of 2009 in comparison to the number discovered in the first half of 2008, says the report. The U.S. is the top country where such malicious Web links can be found, accounting for 36 percent of known malicious links, with China holding the second spot. Source: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/082609-ibm-malware-trojans.html