Three-fold global increase in infected websites

Peter Dinham
Wednesday, 01 April 2009 17:48

Business IT - Technology

There was a three-fold increase in the number of malicious websites around the world infected with malware in March, with almost 3,000 potentially harmful sites intercepted every day of the month.

Symantec reports, in its MessageLabs Intelligence report, that the steep rise in malicious websites – an increase of 200 percent – during March, essentially revolved around the resurgence in using images containing injected scripts, such as JavaScript or VBScript. To further complicate things, there was also a big rise in the percentage of email-borne malware with links to malicious sites.

Paul Wood, MessageLabs Intelligence senior analyst, Symantec, said many of the websites used to host these images included free image hosting websites, and may potentially extend to some popular social networking and multimedia file-sharing sites that allow users to upload and share pictures.

Wood says the rise in malicious websites appears to be an attempt to exploit a flaw in older browsers that appends the injected script to the end of the image’s binary code, which can achieve monetary rewards through simulated online advertising.

There was a warning from Wood that malicious links sent through email and hosted on infected or compromised websites represent a growing area of risk for businesses as many attacks are designed to steal personal data and confidential information simply when users visit an infected site.

According to Wood, the percentage of email-borne malware containing links to malicious sites reached its highest level since June 2008, rising 16.5 per cent to 20.3 per cent. Also in March, the Melissa virus, the first notable virus spread via email, celebrated its tenth anniversary.

“Having been focused on email tactics for the latter half of 2008 and early 2009, the cyber criminals are varying their strategies, and turning their attention toward web-related tactics, so as not to become too predictable,” Wood said.
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