Sophos published its Mid-Year 2011 Security Threat Report which revealed that fake anti-virus and search engine poisoning have become more commonplace and, since the beginning of 2011, Sophos has identified an average of 150,000 malware samples every day. This equates to a unique malware file being created every half-second, a 60 percent increase since 2010. In addition, around 19,000 malicious website addresses (URLs) are now identified daily, with 80 percent of those URLs being pages on legitimate websites that have been hacked or compromised.
High-profile hacking attacks against governments and corporations have dominated the security landscape in 2011. The result is that other security issues which could pose a greater threat to businesses, governments and consumers – such as fake anti-virus, search engine poisoning and social networking scams – have received less attention. With a new unique malware threat seen almost every half second, it’s vital for businesses to build the proper defences.
“2011 has seen a continued massive increase in the volume of malware in which the Web is the dominant vector for both targeted and mass-scale attacks. The virulence of attacks such as fake anti-virus requires a prompt move by IT organisations and consumers to employ more layered Web protection and defences to reduce the attack surface of the devices they use.” said Mark Harris, vice president of SophosLabs.
