Sophos reveals significant increase in Security Threats
VARINDIA- INDIA'S FRONTLINE IT MAGAZINE
Sophos has published its Security Threat Report 2011, analyzing cybercrime during the last year and looking at IT security trends to watch in 2011. A highlight of the report is the findings of Sophos's latest Social Security survey, which polls computer users on their experiences of social networking security threats.The massive and committed social networking site user base is heavily targeted by scammers and cybercriminals, with the number and diversity of attacks growing steadily throughout 2010 - malware, phishing and spam on social networks have all continued to rise in the past year, with the survey finding that -1 40% of social networking users quizzed have been sent malware such as worms via social networking sites, a 90% increase since the summer of 20092 Two thirds (67%) say they have been spammed via social networking sites, more than double the proportion less than two years ago3 43% have been at the receiving end of phishing attacks, more than double the figure since 2009"Rogue applications, click jacking, survey scams - all unheard of just a couple of years ago, are now popping up on a daily basis on social networks such as Facebook," said Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant, Sophos. "Why aren't Facebook and other social networks doing more to prevent spam and scams in the first place? People need to be very careful they don't end up being conned for their personal details, or get tricked into clicking on links that could earn money for cybercriminals or infect innocent computers."
Sophos has published its Security Threat Report 2011, analyzing cybercrime during the last year and looking at IT security trends to watch in 2011. A highlight of the report is the findings of Sophos's latest Social Security survey, which polls computer users on their experiences of social networking security threats.The massive and committed social networking site user base is heavily targeted by scammers and cybercriminals, with the number and diversity of attacks growing steadily throughout 2010 - malware, phishing and spam on social networks have all continued to rise in the past year, with the survey finding that -1 40% of social networking users quizzed have been sent malware such as worms via social networking sites, a 90% increase since the summer of 20092 Two thirds (67%) say they have been spammed via social networking sites, more than double the proportion less than two years ago3 43% have been at the receiving end of phishing attacks, more than double the figure since 2009"Rogue applications, click jacking, survey scams - all unheard of just a couple of years ago, are now popping up on a daily basis on social networks such as Facebook," said Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant, Sophos. "Why aren't Facebook and other social networks doing more to prevent spam and scams in the first place? People need to be very careful they don't end up being conned for their personal details, or get tricked into clicking on links that could earn money for cybercriminals or infect innocent computers."For More Details See
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