Fewer Phishing Recorded During H1 2009: IBM

As per semi-annual security threat report of IBM known as "IBM Internet Security Systems 2009 Mid-Year Trend & Risk Report", a clear decline has been reported in the volume of spam-based phishing attacks in H1 2009.

The midyear security report of IBM discovered that phishing accounted for merely 0.1% of all spam in H1 2009 while the figure varied from 0.2% to 0.8% in H1 2008.

Also, the report discovered that cyber crooks are changing the kind of businesses they target with phishing. 66% of phishing attacks were targeted on banks, down from 90% in H1 2008.

Director of the X-Force research team in IBM's Internet Security Systems division, Kris Lamb, said that is enormous, steep reduction in the volume of phishing, as per the news published by Associated Press on August 25, 2009.

Kris stated that the phishing might have reduced as computer users have become smarter about recognizing fake sites.

Director of Symantec Corp.'s Global Intelligence Network, Dean Turner (who was not associated with IBM's research), stated that Symantec has observed that phishing has decreased in H1 2009, though it can again increase in the latter half of the year. Turner added that phishing attacks tend to rise with holidays round the corner, reported Associated Press on August 25, 2009.

Moreover, the report of decline in phishing in H1 2009 by IBM has also been approved by several other security firms, including MessageLabs and Kaspersky, which too observed fall in phishing attacks during the first six months of the current year.

Security experts said that it might be because people safeguard themselves against phishing, access some sensitive websites on their own, instead of following links in e-mails, which might potentially direct them to phishing sites.

Also, based on their findings, researchers of IBM have found another premise as to why there has been declining trend in phishing activities. Product Manager at IBM Internet Security Systems ISS, Dan Holden, said that cyber criminals are getting better results with Trojan. It is a return on investment issue for them, as per the news by softpedia.com in the fourth week of August 2009.

Related article: Free Web Host Services: spammer’s bull’s eye

» SPAMfighter News - 9/11/2009