80 Percent of Attacks in 2012 Were Redirects From Legitimate Sites and 27 Percent of All Cybercrime Was Linked to 'Blackhole'...
December 04 2012 - 09:00AM
Marketwired
Sophos today released its Security Threat Report 2013, a detailed
and interactive assessment of what's happened in IT security for
2012 and what's expected for 2013 -- from the ever-growing bring
your own device (BYOD) movement to the increasing adoption of (and
uncertainty around) the cloud to countless other security
challenges faced by organizations of all sizes. The full report is
available for download here.
Year in Review 2012 was a year of new
platforms and modern malware -- what was once a homogeneous world
of Windows systems, is now a landscape made up of diverse
platforms. Modern malware is taking advantage of these trends,
creating new challenges for IT security professionals.
The increasing mobility of data in corporate environments has
forced IT staff to become even more agile. 2012 was also a retro
year driven by resurgence in traditional malware attacks,
specifically malware distributed via the web. For example, more
than 80 percent of attacks were redirects, the majority of which
were from legitimate websites that were hacked.
Malware Attacks: Riskiest and Safest
Countries Unprotected computers are vulnerable to different
kinds of malware attack. Exposure to the majority, but not all,
comes from simply clicking on links in emails or browsing web pages
that happen to be carrying malicious code. Although some websites
are created with the intention of infecting visitors, legitimate
websites continue to be a popular target for cybercriminals, as
once they are compromised, they will infect completely unsuspecting
internet users. Based on analyzed traffic, SophosLabs, Sophos'
global network of threat intelligence centers, has ranked the
riskiest and safest countries for experiencing a malware
attack:
Top 5 Riskiest Countries
Rank Country TER*
1 Hong Kong 23.54%
2 Taiwan 21.26%
3 UAE 20.78%
4 Mexico 19.81%
5 India 17.44%
Top 5 Safest Countries
Rank Country TER*
1 Norway 1.81%
2 Sweden 2.59%
3 Japan 2.63%
4 UK 3.51%
5 Switzerland 3.81%
*Threat Exposure Rate (TER): Measured as the percentage of PCs
that experienced a malware attack, whether successful or failed,
over a three month period in 2012.
A Look Ahead While a large proportion of
cybercrime continues to be opportunistic, Sophos believes that, in
2013, increased availability of malware testing platforms -- some
even providing criminals with money back guarantees -- will make it
more likely for malware to slip through traditional business
security systems. As a result, we can expect to see an increase in
the number of incidents where attackers have gained and sustained
surreptitious access to corporate networks. Additional trends
expected in the year ahead include:
- More basic web server mistakes Due to an
uptick in credential-based extractions, IT professionals will need
to pay equal attention to protecting both their computers as well
as their web server environment.
- More "irreversible" malware More attacks
will place a greater focus on the need for behavioral protection
mechanisms as well as system hardening and backup/restore
procedures.
- Attack toolkits with premium features A
continued evolution in the maturation of exploit kits, including
premium features such as built in scriptable web services, APIs,
and malware quality assurance platforms that appear to make access
to high quality malicious code even simpler.
- Better exploit mitigation Enhanced
exploit mitigation will not mean the end of exploits, instead, the
market will see a decrease in vulnerability exploits offset by a
sharp rise in social engineering attacks across a wide array of
platforms.
- Integration, privacy and security
challenges With GPS and near field communication (NFC)
becoming more integrated into mobile platforms, expect to see a
convergence in our digital and physical lives. This trend is
identifiable not just for mobile devices, but for computing in
general. In the coming year, watch for new examples of attacks
built on these technologies.
"Two of the defining terms of 2012 are 'empower' and 'evolve.'
Attacks and threats -- on PCs, Macs and mobile devices -- continue
to evolve as does the technology to combat them," said Gerhard
Eschelbeck, CTO, Sophos. "As users demand more and better ways to
do their jobs, IT continues to evolve, bringing forth a new set of
operating systems and other advancements, replete with different
security models and attack vectors, making it crucial for security
technology to evolve, ensuring that end users are protected and
empowered -- no matter what platform, device, or operating system
they choose."
The full Security Threat Report 2013 contains more information
and statistics on cybercrime in 2012, as well as top tips and
predictions for emerging trends. The report can be viewed at
http://www.sophos.com/threatreport and supplemental videos can be
found here.
About Sophos More than 100 million users
in 150 countries rely on Sophos' complete security solutions as the
best protection against complex threats and data loss. Simple to
deploy, manage, and use, Sophos' award-winning encryption, endpoint
security, web, email, mobile and network security solutions are
backed by SophosLabs -- a global network of threat intelligence
centers.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More
information is available at http://www.sophos.com.
Image Available:
http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2169937
Press Contact Jessica Lavery-Pozerski 781-743-7433 Email
Contact