Data Leakage, Vista & Spam Top 2007 Security Threat List

Nearly a year after the issue of Windows Vista by Microsoft, barely 13% of all organizations think they will switch all their computers to this particular operating system, reveals a report issued by Symantec.

A study of 961 individually chosen IT experts discovered that 90% still have fears regarding the shift to Vista, and 48% haven't installed Vista to date in any case. Another 44% stated they are reviewing other OS also, mainly Mac OS X, Suse Linux, Red Hat Linux, and Ubuntu.

Symantec, while releasing its security threat trends for 2007, alleged that a string of sophisticated hackings has increased the significance of data leakage prevention applications and tactics worldwide. Microsoft's launch of its most discussed operating system, Windows Vista involved a great deal of security propaganda in 2007. Windows Vista equipped with its added security highlights needed 16 fixes soon after its launch.

Symantec disclosed that spam reached an all time high in 2007, with PDF spam developing as yet another irritant. The greeting card spam was behind the distribution of the Storm Worm malware.

It's reaching such heights that it's beginning to move users away from electronic mail. They will shift to Instant Messaging (IM) and since it's the latest plank, the hackers will reach there also. However, it's surely plausible to state that though spam is still increasing, correspondingly sufficient anti-spam applications are also available in the market, waiting to be adopted, alleged APAC's Regional Product Marketing Manager Robert Pragnall, as reported on November 27, 2007 by Itnews.

Symantec also referred to rising accessibility of specialized attack kits on the Internet. The malware kit MPack was an important contributor along with the all time favorite phishing toolkits. phishing ranked 5th and continued to be prominent in 2007 with an 18% rise pursued by Internet-based risks.

The bots and botnets hold the eighth position, and then come the Web plug-in flaws like ActiveX controls. Virtualization also created a great hype in 2007 with main participants going public.

Symantec alleged that Internet-based risks would remain, especially since browsers get more reliable while reacting to languages such as JavaScript. With cross-site scripting programs succeeding, malware authors can be relied on to carry on profiting from them.

Related article: Data Theft Incidents Influence Consumers Adversely

» SPAMfighter News - 12/7/2007