Internet crime soars by over 350pc

Theft of confidential financial information on the internet is growing rapidly, according to a report by security specialists Symantec released today.

The prevalence of phishing, the replication of financial websites with the aim of getting unsuspecting users to provide passwords and personal details, has risen by more than 350 per cent in the six months to the end of December 2004.

Hackers are increasingly focusing on making money rather than creating viruses to attain notoriety, Symantec says.

Richard Batchelar, the manager of Symantec New Zealand, said the company's anti-spam filters were intercepting attempts at online extortion at a rate of 33 million a week at the end of last year, compared with 9 million a week in July.

"If they can do that over the internet without having to pull their guns out down in Sicily, then that's an amazing swing from those just seeing how far their viruses will go," Batchelar said.

The biannual survey was drawn from more than 200,000 sensors monitoring network activity in 180 countries, virus reports from 120 million Symantec client systems and a network with 2 million decoy accounts used to gauge global activity.

Batchelar said the need to protect against security threats reflected a change in society generally. "At home, I have an alarm and on my door there's a deadlock. Ten years ago, I think our parents just left their doors open."

The report highlighted increases in financial fraud, growth of malicious code targeted at mobile devices, increased spyware and more attacks hidden within audio and video files.

However, it is not all bad news. The time between discovering a vulnerability and the creation of a "patch" to cover it took less than a week.

"We're watching them and they're watching us across two sides of the fence," Batchelar said.

He added that the report, which is aimed primarily at business, should serve as a warning against complacency.

"I think we're at that age of change where people have become used to [the risks] - 'yes, there are threats out there, yes, I need to do something about it, but I'm not sure what that is'."

His advice was to build security upon sound foundations; that includes not using the same password for all systems.

"You've just got to be more vigilant about your own information and what all those people you are communicating with are doing with it as well - your customers, your suppliers and your bank, for instance." 

Six months of threats

* In the half-year to December 31, Symantec anti-spam filters blocked an average 33 million phishing attempts a week, an increase of 366 per cent.

* 27 of the top 50 malicious messages were designed to expose confidential information.

* Web applications accounted for 48 per cent of all vulnerabilities.

* More than 7360 new Windows viruses and worms represented a 64 per cent increase.

* Symantec recorded eight new vulnerabilities a day, of which 97 per cent were considered moderate or highly severe.

* Organisations received 13.6 attacks a day, up from 10.6 attacks six months ago.