IT security and data protection firm Sophos discovers 50 000 newly infected Web pages everyday, in what is becoming a global epidemic.
The company has identified the top 10 countries hosting malware on the Web during 2009, with the US ranking in first place with 37.4% of global hosted malware.
“The US is still hosting more dangerous infected Web sites that any other country. However, just because the malware is planted on the Web in these countries doesn't necessarily mean the hackers themselves are based in the same place. Cyber criminals will attempt to infect Web sites anywhere in the world,” says Brett Myroff, CEO of regional Sophos distributor, Sophos SA.
China and Russia appear to be strong contenders for the top position. However, the security company shows China's share has dropped considerably from second place, with 27.7% in 2008, to third behind Russia, with just 11.2% in 2009. Furthermore, China's share in 2007 was 51.4%, indicating a year-on-year decline, notes Sophos.
Covert wars
“This is now rivalled by the huge problem of criminals injecting viral code into legitimate sites that have not been properly secured," says Myroff. “These hacked sites are particularly dangerous because of the large amount of traffic they may already receive, and because visitors may feel they can trust any unusual pop-ups they see," he adds.
Sophos explains that hackers use 'malvertising', the placing of malicious adverts, to exploit legitimate Web sites. The company points to incidents on the New York Time Web site and technology Web site Gizmodo which saw infections being passed on to their readers.
"Webmasters need to take much better care of their sites, ensuring they are securely coded and properly patched against hackers injecting malicious software into their pages," Myroff says.
"All computer users should be protected by a security solution that scans every Web page visited and every link clicked on to see if it could contain dangerous content. You scan your e-mail for viruses, you should do the same for Web sites,” he advises.
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