Worms still exceed phishing

By Stuart Lowman for CompTIA
Johannesburg, 17 Jun 2005

Although browser-based and phishing scams are the fastest-growing, a study shows viruses and worms still hold the biggest IT security threat.

The study, commissioned by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), surveyed 489 professionals in a variety of sectors.

Internet communications and commerce continue to be exploited with malicious intent as incidents of browser-based attacks and phishing scams surged in the past year, says CompTIA.

According to the report, the number of organisations that suffered browser-based attacks increased significantly for the third consecutive year to 56.6% of the organisations surveyed, up from 36.8% last year.

Phishing attacks also increased, with one-quarter of the surveyed organisations falling victim in the past 12 months, up 18% from last year.

However, the report shows that viruses and worms are still the biggest IT security threat, even though the number of these attacks has levelled off.

Two-thirds of the organisations surveyed reported such attacks but the figures were down from 68.6% in the previous year.

"Though security software has become increasingly more advanced in its ability to detect threats to the networks, applications and operating systems, hackers are sophisticated enough to reverse-engineer patches and launch counter-offensives to vulnerable systems within 48 hours," says CompTIA COO Brian McCarthy.

New threats

Viruses attack human nature and use social engineering, while people are wary of phishing, says Brett Myroff, MD of Netxactics.

Myroff is referring to the fact that people are more enticed to open up an e-mail purporting to contain a picture of Anna Kournikova than give banking details on a Web site.

There is also a lot of talk around phishing at the moment so people are more careful, he adds.

The study also found that new security threats to wireless and portable technology are proving costly to manufacturers and consumers across the globe. However, Myroff says this issue is more hype than substance.