Nearly 70% of Top 100 Sites Contain Malicious Content

Web users are often recommended to visit only legitimate sites to minimize the risk of malware attacks. But it appears that the difference between authentic and inauthentic sites has become meaningless.

A report, "State of Internet Security, Q3-Q4, 2008", released by Websense reveals that 70% of the top 100 sites either hosted harmful content or carried a link to redirect users to a malicious website in the second half of 2008. Researchers at Websense informed that it indicates 16% increase in malicious sites against the first half of 2008.

Further, Websense claims that 77% of the sites with familiar dangerous code are legitimate websites, significantly higher compared to 75% in the first half of 2008.

Security experts said that there are a number of methods to hack a reputed website. These methods include online iFrame injection services that depend on pilfered login details or SQL injection methods.

Security experts also informed that spam mails with harmful links can also lead to compromise of a website. The Websense report said that almost 85% of mails were found to be spam in the second half of 2008, and more than 90% of spam mails contained links to spam or harmful websites.

The security company also disclosed that just 6% of spam mails were phishing attempts, a decline of 33% from the first six months of 2008. It indicates that malware creators are concentrating more on DNS poisoning or data stealing trojans to achieve their objectives.

In addition, malware infection rate is rising. Security researchers added that the number of harmful sites detected by Websense Security Labs from January 01, 2008 to January 01, 2009 rose by 46%.

Chief Technology Officer of Websense, Dan Hubbard, claimed that in the past six months, hackers modified their attack methodology in some areas. Dan also commented that hackers started using links to harmful and spam sites in their mail campaigns to attract users and surpass security softwares that lack are poorly designed, as reported by ComputerWorld on January 22, 2009.

Related article: Nearly 90% of E-mails Companies Receive are Spam

» SPAMfighter News - 30-01-2009

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