Big leap in malicious Web sites

Spam and virus attacks are declining, but malicious Web sites have taken a big leap, according to the September Intelligence Report from MessageLabs. The figures back up reports from numerous security firms and experts that Web-based attacks are now the vehicle of choice for distributing malware.

In September, 70.1% of all emails tracked by MessageLabs were spam a decrease of 8.1% since August. One in 131.7 emails in September contained malware (a decrease of 0.38% since August). By contrast, 3,660 new malicious sites were blocked per day an increase of 22.8% since August.

Hackers are increasingly exploiting loopholes found in legitimate Web sites, usually due to coding errors, to inject those sites with malicious codes containing malware which can draw an infected user's computer into a botnet for distributing viruses, or steal confidential information. Users whose computers are not properly protected or who use browsers that are out of date can be infected by visiting seemingly innocent sites.