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A report issued by IBM Wednesday warns there is an “unprecedented state of Web insecurity” on the Internet as cybercriminals and hackers take advantage of new exploits to gain data and access to personal information.

The X-Force 2009 Mid-Year Trend and Risk Report, found that there has been a 508% increase in the number of new malicious Web links discovered. The report says the problem is no longer limited to malicious domains or untrusted Web sites, and that there has been an alarming increase in the presence of malicious content on trusted sites, including search engines, blogs, bulletin boards, online magazines and mainstream news sites.

“There is no such thing as safe browsing today and it is no longer the case that only the red light district sites are responsible for malware,” X-Force Director Kris Lamb said in releasing the report. “We’ve reached a tipping point where every Web site should be viewed as suspicious and every user is at risk.”

We’ve heard these kinds of warnings that the Internet is a “wild west environment” before, and yet people still venture online and for the most part manage to survive without being digitally robbed blind. Still, when a report of this nature comes from a well-respected source like IBM, it does cause you to take notice.

The report says Web security is no longer just a browser or client-side issue, that criminals are leveraging insecure Web applications to target the users of legitimate Web sites. It says there has been a significant rise in Web application attacks with the intent to steal and manipulate data and take command and control of infected computers.

“Two of the major themes for the first half of 2009 are the increase in sites hosting malware and the doubling of obfuscated Web attacks,” Lamb said. “The trends seem to reveal a fundamental security weakness in the Web ecosystem where interoperability between browsers, plugins, content and server applications dramatically increase the complexity and risk.”

Other key findings from the report:

• There were 3,240 new vulnerabilities discovered in the first half of 2009, an 8% decrease over the first half of 2008.
• Trojans accounted for half of all new malware and information stealing Trojans were the most prevalent.
• Phising attacks are decreasing, as criminals are finding it more difficult to trick people into handing over their banking information. However, it is believed cybercriminals have shifted their efforts to using Trojans to obtain passwords and personal data to get at your financial assets.

Comments (1)

	1. 08-27-2009 16:48
	Speaking of no such thing as safe browsing, security vendor McAfee came out with a report this week naming the "most dangerous celebrities to search for in cyberspace." Apparently, searching for a celebrity on the most dangerous list could take you to a site where you're likely to get infected with malware in addition to seeing your favorite star.    The most dangerous celebrity to search for this year is actress Jessica Biel, who supplanted Brad Pitt on the list. According to McAfee you have a one-in-five chance of landing on a Web site infected with various nasties while searching for Biel. Singer Beyonce remained number two for two years counting, while Pitt slipped all the way to No. 10. Registered

Mel Duvall

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