Phishing, Viruses, Spam On The Rise

Message Labs monthly intelligence report shows an increase in computer threats, some at the highest level ever.

Message Labs has issued its September Intelligence report, showing the threats through e-mails, viruses and spam.   The results display an increase in all three, with one in 48.8 e-mails containing malware. As many of us have noticed, the malware isn’t in an attachment in many cases, but in a link within the e-mail, to an e-card site or something similar, which installs the malware when opened.   One in 87 mails contains a phishing attack.   “Virus levels reached levels last observed eighteen months ago,” said the report. “Phishing levels have never before reached levels experienced this month. As this new academic year began, so did the increase in ‘old school’ threats.”   There was a surge in the Storm botnet attack between August 17-23, where some domains saw spam levels rise by as much as 30%. One massive attack happened on September 12, targeting senior management with an e-mail supposedly from a recruitment company that contained an RFT attachment. That was actually a Trojan, and once installed, sent information back to a remote server.