China Retained the Top Slot of Generating Maximum Attacks in APJ During 2008

According to Symantec's most recent report titled Asia-Pacific and Japan Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), China was at No.1 position in terms of spewing malicious operations online in the APJ region during 2008. It was responsible for 41% of the total malevolent attacks.

Notably, the country maintained the same position in 2008 on which it had been in 2007 when it was ranked as the top country in malicious activity within the APJ region, accounting for 42% of all malevolent operations.

Similarly, in terms of Web attacks targeting the APJ countries, China again topped as the country from where such attacks originated, accounting for a 79% share of the total Web attacks. Globally, the country ranked second with respect to Web attacks, accounting for 13% of the worldwide aggregate.

Symantec states that the reason given to the No.1 ranking of China is that there are a large number of public PCs in the country. Typically, public computers are more vulnerable to malware attacks as a large number of people use them to perform various Internet activities such as e-mailing, gaming and online shopping. Since majority of these users practice unsafe surfing and imbibe improper navigating habits, harmful downloads easily occur.

However, according to Symantec, during an analysis of malicious activity by country or region, a drop was observed in such activity emanating from China. This, according to the analysts, is probably because security measures were increased ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, including the rigorous effort to block potentially fake forums and websites. In addition, a number of unlicensed cyber cafes were shutdown while security over those operational was increased.

China, in terms of botnet activity, once again proved predominant, accounting for the maximum number of command-and-control servers for amassing bots, among the APJ countries with a 63% share. Symantec also states that it spotted 3,567 unique and new bot controllers in APJ during 2008.

Besides, a mean of 11,683 infected PCs was identified every day within APJ during 2008 that was a 3% growth from the average of 11,329 computed during 2007.

Notably, after China, the country, which ranked No.2 in malicious activity during 2008, was South Korea.

Related article: China’s Best Initiatives To Deal With Spam

» SPAMfighter News - 4/24/2009