14 DAY TRIAL // The security of our systems is the main concern for multiple security companies that are continuously working on an application that can protect us against all kinds of threats. Nowadays, several internet users are attacked by viruses, Trojans, phishing attempts or other infected files so we urgently need a powerful tool to defend our computers. Many computer owners think that it's enough to install a well known antivirus solution and a firewall but, in some cases, it can make your system even more vulnerable. What happens if the installed programs contain security flaws that can be exploited by attackers? Well, it depends on the level of the vulnerability but we should all be afraid of these situations.
Some time ago, several publications announced that authorities from all around the world decided to take action against computer frauds like spamming, phishing and other internet attacks. Then, it was reported that two persons were arrested for sending SMS spam to mobile devices from all around the world. Recently, a new case was confirmed sustaining that a couple sent almost 1.6 million spam messages to e-mails in the US, earning money and information that was then redirected to other companies.
It's obvious that the number of internet attacks is increasing every day. Security company MessageLabs released an advisory to publish statistics about the recent security reports, sustaining that phishing attacks are more numerous than other internet attacks.
"Following the massive growth in spam during the last few months of 2006, spam levels remained high across most of the world. In January, spam levels reached 75.8 percent (1 in 1.32 emails), a 1.5 percent increase since December. Due to MessageLabs Traffic Management controls, this figure is lower than the "true" spam number of 84.5 percent," it is mentioned in the security advisory.
The security company also reported that e-mail spamming is also more popular in January than in December, being increased with almost 1.5 percent. "In January 2007, the global ratio of spam in email traffic from new and unknown bad sources, for which the recipient addresses were deemed valid, was 75.8 percent (1 in 1.32 emails), an increase of 1.5 percent since December. This figure is lower than the "true" spam number since MessageLabs Traffic Management controls the bandwidth given to absolutely known bad sources of spam. It effectively pushes the spam back to the spammers' networks, slowing the ability to send lots of spam. The amount of spam hitting MessageLabs honey-pots is closer to 84.5 percent," MessageLabs reported.
If you want to read more information and the latest statistics mentioned in the MessageLabs advisory, you should follow this link.