CUPERTINO, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 09/25/06 -- The latest Internet Security Threat Report
released today by Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) shows that because home users are
less likely to have established security measures in place, they are being
increasingly targeted by attackers for identity theft, fraud, or other
financially motivated crime. Furthermore, attackers are now using a variety
of techniques to escape detection and prolong their presence on systems in
order to gain more time to steal information, hijack the computer for
marketing purposes, provide remote access, or otherwise compromise
confidential information for profit.
"Understanding the current threat landscape is critical in helping us
protect our citizens' online interactions and ensure the availability of
our critical systems," said David Jordan, chief information security and
privacy officer for Arlington County, Va. "The current threat intelligence
in Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report, combined with our use of
leading-edge security technologies, helps us ensure the highest degree of
security for our citizens and government agencies."
Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report notes that home users are the
most targeted attack sector, accounting for 86 percent of all targeted
attacks, followed by financial services businesses. Symantec has identified
increased attacks aimed at client-side applications, increased use of
evasive tactics to avoid detection, and that large, widespread Internet
worms have given way to smaller, more targeted attacks focusing on fraud,
data theft, and criminal activity.
"Attackers see end users as the weakest link in the security chain and are
constantly targeting them in an effort to profit," said Arthur Wong, senior
vice president, Symantec Security Response and Managed Services. "Given the
effect this has on our large and growing customer base, Symantec introduced
new metrics to further understand how to better protect customers against
these security concerns in years to come."
Desktop Attacks on the Rise
As software vendors and enterprises successfully adapt to the changing
threat environment by implementing security best practices and
defense-in-depth strategies, attackers have begun to adopt new techniques
such as targeting malicious code at client-side applications including Web
browsers, e-mail clients, and other desktop applications. Vulnerabilities
affecting Web applications accounted for 69 percent of all vulnerabilities
documented by Symantec in the first half of 2006. Vulnerabilities in Web
browsers have also become increasingly prominent, with 47 vulnerabilities
documented in Mozilla browsers (compared to 17 in the last reporting
period), 38 in Microsoft Internet Explorer (compared to 25), and 12 in
Apple Safari (compared to six).
Evasive Techniques on the Rise
During this reporting period, 18 percent of all distinct malicious code
samples detected by Symantec had not been seen before, indicating that
attackers are more actively attempting to evade detection by
signature-based antivirus and intrusion detection/prevention systems.
Phishers are also attempting to bypass filtering technologies by creating
multiple randomized messages and distributing those messages in a broad
uncontrolled fashion. During the first six months of 2006, 157,477 unique
phishing messages were detected, marking an increase of 81 percent over the
previous period. At the same time, spam made up 54 percent of all monitored
e-mail traffic, a slight increase from 50 percent the previous period. Most
spammers are opting to exclude malicious code with their spam to decrease
the chances of being blocked and instead include links to Web sites hosting
malicious code.
Financial Gain Drives Malicious Activity
Financial gain remains the motivation behind many of the threats during the
reporting period. For example, bot networks can be used not only to spread
malicious code, but to send spam or phishing messages, download adware and
spyware, attack an organization, and harvest confidential information.
Symantec identified more than 4.6 million distinct, active bot network
computers and observed an average of 57,717 active bot network computers
per day during this period. Bot networks are also commonly used in
denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, a major threat to organizations as these
attacks can result in disrupted communication, loss of revenue, damage to
brand and reputation, and exposure to criminal extortion schemes. During
the first half of 2006, Symantec observed an average of 6,110 DoS attacks
per day.
Other financially motivated attacks use modular malicious code, malware
that updates itself or downloads a more aggressive threat upon establishing
a foothold on the victim host, to expose sensitive information. During the
first half of 2006, modular malicious code accounted for 79 percent of the
top 50 malicious code reported to Symantec. Additionally, malicious code
threats that expose confidential data represented 30 of the top 50 samples
submitted to Symantec.
For the first time, Symantec tracked the sectors of brands being targeted
by phishing attacks -- another means to monetary gain. Not surprisingly,
the financial services sector was the most heavily phished, accounting for
84 percent of phishing sites tracked by the Symantec Phish Report Network
and Symantec Brightmail AntiSpam this period.
Additional Key Findings
-- Vulnerabilities: Symantec documented 2,249 new vulnerabilities in the
first half of 2006, an increase of 18 percent over the previous period and
the highest volume of vulnerabilities recorded for any reporting period.
-- Window of Exposure and Time-to-Patch: The window of exposure for
enterprise vendors and Web browsers was 28 days, down from 50 days in the
previous period. Microsoft Internet Explorer had an average window of
exposure of nine days (down from 25), Apple Safari at five days (up from
zero), Opera at two days (down from 18), and Mozilla at one day (up from
negative two). For the first time, Symantec tracked the average time it
takes operating system vendors to release a patch for a vulnerability. Sun
had the longest patch release time with 89 days followed by HP with 53
days. Apple took an average of 37 days while Microsoft and Red Hat had the
lowest average patch release times with 13 days.
-- Misleading Applications: Three of the top 10 new security risks were
misleading applications that give false or exaggerated reports of security
threats on a user's system in order to persuade the user to pay money to
upgrade to another version of the software that will "remove the threats"
that were found.
-- Denial-of-Service Attacks: The United States was the location of the
most denial of service (DoS) targets, accounting for 54 percent of the
worldwide total, and the Internet service provider (ISP) sector was the
sector most targeted by DoS attacks. The United States also had the highest
percentage of bot command-and-control servers, with 42 percent of the
total, while China had the highest number of bot-infected computers, with
20 percent of the worldwide total.
-- Future Threats: Among the trends Symantec expects to see in the future
are a resurgence of polymorphism and other evasion techniques in Win32
malicious code; an increase in threats which exploit "Web 2.0" concepts
such as user-based publishing and technologies like AJAX; security concerns
associated with the release of Windows Vista; and an increase in the number
of vulnerabilities reported due to the use of fuzzers which are programs or
scripts designed to find vulnerabilities in software code.
About the Symantec Internet Security Threat Report
The tenth volume of the semiannual Symantec Internet Security Threat Report
covers the six-month period from Jan. 1, 2006, through June 30, 2006. It
is based on Symantec data collected from more than 40,000 sensors deployed
in more than 180 countries in addition to a database covering more than
18,000 vulnerabilities affecting more than 30,000 technologies from more
than 4,000 vendors. Symantec also reviews more than 2 million decoy
accounts that attract e-mail messages from 20 different countries around
the world allowing Symantec to gauge global spam and phishing activity. To
provide enhanced insight into the evolving threat landscape, this volume of
the report includes several new metrics, such as the window of exposure for
Web browsers and the proportion of previously unseen malicious code.
Symantec is the world leader in providing solutions to help individuals and
enterprises assure the security, availability, and integrity of their
information. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has operations in
40 countries. More information is available at www.symantec.com.
NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on Symantec
Corporation and its products, please visit the Symantec News Room at
http://www.symantec.com/news. All prices noted are in U.S. dollars and are
valid only in the United States.
Symantec and the Symantec Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries.
Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
The latest Internet Security Threat Reportreleased today by Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) shows that because home users areless likely to have established security measures in place, they are beingincreasingly targeted by attackers for identity theft, fraud, or otherfinancially motivated crime. Furthermore, attackers are now using a varietyof techniques to escape detection and prolong their presence on systems inorder to gain more time to steal information, hijack the computer formarketing purposes, provide remote access, or otherwise compromiseconfidential information for profit.
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