Websense Security Labs has come out with a report titled, ?Websense 2013 Threat Report.? According to the report findings, the number of malicious web-based attacks has increased by nearly 600 per cent year-over-year between 2011 and 2012.
The report findings are based on a year-over-year comparison of web, email, data, mobile and social media threats. The number of malicious web-based attacks has increased on legitimate sites and such attacks pose challenge to traditional approaches to security and trust. The report asserts that only proactive, real-time security techniques, that inspect the entire lifecycle of a threat, can withstand the assault and prevent data theft.
The report indicates that each week organisations faced an average of 1,719 attacks for every 1,000 users. The number of sites affected by malicious web-based attacks in North America had increased by 720 per cent when compared to last year. And Europe, the Middle East and Africa saw a 531 per cent increase in malicious web-based attacks. The legitimate web hosts were home to 85 per cent of malicious sites.
According to the report, half of web-connected malware downloaded additional executables in the first 60 seconds while only 7.7 per cent of malware interacted with the system registry, circumventing many behavioral detection systems and antivirus solutions.The key findings of the Websense 2013 Threat Report are:
The US, Russia and Germany were the top three countries hosting malware. Meanwhile, the Bahamas for the first featured in the list of top five countries hosting phishing sites.
China, the US and Russia were the top three countries hosting command and control servers.
Only one in five emails were legitimate. Further, the email spam increased to 76 per cent. Worldwide spam volumes increased to be more than a quarter of a million emails per hour. One in 10 malicious mobile applications asked for permission to install other applications, something rarely required by legitimate applications.
The multistage attacks with multiple vectors have challenged security capabilities, as they identify weak spots to circumvent security of networks and data.
