Symantec Releases Internet Security Threat Report
Symantec Corp. this week released the 14th edition of its Internet Security Threat Report. The security vendor found some interesting things in the report covering the period from January 2008 to December 2008:
- Symantec created more malicious code signatures in 2008 than ever before -- the 1.6 new signatures is 60 percent of all the signatures the venerable (in Internet years) security company has ever created.
- Most new infections, once again, occurred while users were Web surfing.
- 90 percent of the threats were of the type trying to collect confidential information, such as bank account credentials.
- As an example of the resiliency of Internet attackers, Symantec pointed to the takedown of two U.S.-based botnet hosters in 2008. Botnet activity decreased in September and November 2008, but quickly bounced back to pre-shutdown levels. (We profiled Symantec's separate, interesting report on the underground economy in the February issue of RCP.)
- Symantec also reported that 1 million individual computers were infected by the Conficker worm by the end of 2008, and that number had risen to 3 million during the first quarter of 2009.
In addition to providing valuable intelligence on the state of Internet security, the Symantec report is designed to highlight the company's expertise in the area and give potential customers as bracing a reminder as possible about ongoing threats to their digital information. Symantec officials say that many of the company's channel partners take the report to their customers as a good conversation starter about customers' current security profile and new vulnerabilities. You can find the report on Symantec's Web site here.
Posted by Scott Bekker on April 15, 2009