Data compiled in July suggests that there are currently three times as many web attacks occurring now, compared to during the last half of 2011, says Symantec Corporation.
Attackers generally lure unsuspecting users to the web attack toolkits by using a variety of social engineering tricks, such as spam emails or social networking attacks. Often these contain a link to legitimate Web sites that have been compromised and onto which the attacker has installed an attack toolkit.
In July, the global ratio of spam in email traffic rose by 0.8 percentage point since June, to 67.6%. Singapore’s spam rate increased to 66.6% in July from 65.8% in June.
In the same month, one in 475.3 emails (0.21%) comprised some form of phishing attack.
Meanwhile, the global ratio of email-borne viruses in email traffic was one in 340.9 emails (0.293%) in July, down marginally from June. In July, 26.5% of email-borne malware contained links to malicious Web sites, 1.5 percentage points higher than June.
Phishing attacks targeting small to medium-sized businesses (1-250) accounted for one in 363.8 emails, compared with one in 418.3 for large enterprises (2500+).
Malicious email-borne attacks destined for small to medium-sized businesses (1-250) accounted for one in 404.4 emails, compared with one in 214.4 for large enterprises (2500+).
The education sector was the most spammed industry sector in July, with a spam rate of 70.3 percent; the spam rate for the automotive sector was 69%.
The spam rate for the chemical & pharmaceutical sector was 67.9%, compared with 67.7% for IT services, 67.7% for retail, 68.8% for public sector and 67.2% for finance.
The public sector remained the most targeted by phishing activity in July, with one in 113.3 emails comprising a phishing attack.
Phishing levels for the chemical & pharmaceutical sector reached one in 1,119.1 and one in 750.9 for the IT services sector, one in 1,023.0 for retail, one in 335.8 for education, one in 285.9 for finance, and one in 2,068.1 for the automotive industry.
With one in 85.3 emails being blocked as malicious, the public sector remained the most targeted industry in July.
The virus rate for the chemical & pharmaceutical sector reached one in 322.7 and one in 503.3 for the IT services sector; one in 596.1 for retail, one in 210.6 for education and one in 301.8 for finance.