Sophos Labs
The following is a paid post written and reviewed for DailyDollarReport.com. It is completely of my opinion and is not influenced by being paid.
New sites are being infected at a rate of one every five seconds of making Internet safety more of a problem than ever before. In a 2008 report of threat to Security Software company Sophos Labs is enough to never want to go on the Internet again. The dangers of the Internet are increasing and the report finds that cybercriminals are not slowing making keeping your computer security on the Internet more than ever.
The report focused on events and trends that emerged with the aim of helping users and businesses to keep abreast of Internet threats today in order to better defend against an attack. Alarming was the revelation that the site now hosts a record number of Internet threats with Sophos discovered a new infected webpage every five seconds. This is an average of more than 15,000 each day. This compares to its 2007 report, when Sophos Labs said they discovered a new infected webpage every 14 seconds. They report that 79 percent of these sites are legitimate sites.
Even more frightening is these infected sites are not just ‘mom and pop’ sites with lack of Antivirus. Many of these sites are well established, including known spyware companies Trend Micro and Symantec. So what we may think of as safe places is not as secure as you might think. The good news: The Sophos report stated that only one in every 2500 emails is considered the realization of Malware. That’s 40 percent less than in 2007. The bad news: cyber criminals, instead of incorporating malware in email as an attachment, you are using unsolicited email to provide links to compromised websites.
Sophos notes that there is still a common belief that unsolicited email or spam, is not a threat. With a large portion of unsolicited email or spam with links to infected web sites, they say, individuals and small businesses would be wise to address this growing problem of computers before becoming a victim in lack of Data protection.
Spam and Phishing
Sophos Labs revealed in its report that only 7.7 percent of all email was not regarded as spam. That means that over 92 percent of all email was spam in the first quarter of 2008. They add that finding a new spam-related web site on average every three seconds, including the pages recorded in the ‘open network’ sites such as Blogspot, Geocities, etc.. Sophos going to predict this number will increase if their authors are making money from such ruses.
Meanwhile, the report notes that phishing is still a problem of large equipment for banks and other financial institutions. The large online companies like eBay and PayPal were targeted for 59 percent of the time in 2007. In 2008 this was reduced to just over 15 percent. They cite increased awareness of users as a possible reason for the phishers look elsewhere to lure unsuspecting victims to bogus sites.
The Future
Sophos notes that as technology advances help legitimate traders and sales teams to focus their efforts on specific markets quickly, efficiently and cost effectively, which have made life easier for hackers. For both good and bad, better technology has resulted in improved return on investment. The report adds, ‘this is not the time for individuals and companies to bury their heads in the sand and hope no one notices all the security holes open. Today, attacks are sophisticated and well funded and large. ‘
The Effect
Sophos report should open our eyes to the fact that the traditional over-the-counter products are not keeping up with cyber criminals today. If so, should we still have these computer problems? The malware placed on computers through infected Web sites and other sources are causing all sorts of computer problems. As a result of the computer run slower or crash, things like the computer mouse is not working well or that moves by itself. Frequently there are pop ups, spam and phishing e-mail and more.
Many people do not recognize these common computer problems are caused by hacker tools. They do not understand that his computer could be a tool used by cyber criminals to carry out their evil deeds. The sad truth is that millions of computers in the United States are unknowingly compromised and used by the bad guys without the computer owner knowing. These people are unknowingly contributing to cybercrime.
What is even worse is the indifference of the majority of computer owners today. To the extent that they can not see the cyber criminals the feeling that all is well. While the team may limp no need to worry about it. Many consider the so-called friend of high technology to add a computer Encryption Software to protect against these issues. It is a temporary solution at best and usually does not solve the root of the problem, a hacker has taken control of the team and will be with us for cybercrime to a complete solution has taken place.
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