MessageLabs Intelligence Report: June 2011

MessageLabs has published their Intelligence report that sums up the latest threat trends for June 2011.

Report highlights:
- Spam – 72.9% in June (a decrease of 2.9 percentage points since May 2011)
- Phishing – One in 330.6 emails identified as phishing (a decrease of 0.05 percentage points since May 2011)
- Malware – One in 300.7 emails in June contained malware (a decrease of 0.12 percentage points since May 2011)
- Malicious Web sites – 5,415 Web sites blocked per day (an increase of 70.8% since May 2011)
- 35.1% of all malicious domains blocked were new in June (a decrease of 1.7 percentage points since May 2011)
- 20.3% of all Web-based malware blocked was new in June (a decrease of 4.3 percentage points since May 2011)
- Review of Spam-sending botnets in June 2011
- Clicking to Watch Videos Leads to Pharmacy Spam
- Wiki for Everything, Even for Spam
- Phishers Return for Tax Returns
- Fake Donations Continue to Haunt Japan
- Spam Subject Line Analysis
- Best Practices for Enterprises and Users


The report can be viewed here.

MessageLabs Intelligence Report: May 2011

MessageLabs has published their Intelligence report that sums up the latest threat trends for May 2011.

Report highlights:
- Spam – 75.8% in May (an increase of 2.9 percentage points since April 2011)
- Viruses – One in 222.3 emails in May contained malware (a decrease of 0.14 percentage points since April 2011)
- Phishing – One in 286.7 emails comprised a phishing attack (a decrease of 0.06 percentage points since April 2011)
- Malicious web sites – 3,170 web sites blocked per day (an increase of 30.4% since April 2011)
- 36.8% of all malicious domains blocked were new in May (an increase of 3.8 percentage points since April 2011)
- 24.6% of all web-based malware blocked was new in May (an increase of 2.1 percentage points since April 2011)
- For the First Time, Spammers establish their own fake URL-shortening services


The report can be viewed here.

MessageLabs Intelligence Report: April 2011

MessageLabs has published their Intelligence report that sums up the latest threat trends for April 2011.

Report highlights:
- Spam – 72.9% in April (a decrease of 6.4 percentage points since March 2011)
- Viruses – One in 168.6 emails in April contained malware (an increase of 0.11 percentage points since March 2011)
- Phishing – One in 242.2 emails comprised a phishing attack (an increase of 0.02 percentage points since March 2011)
- Malicious web sites – 2,431 web sites blocked per day (a decrease of 18.2% since March 2011)
- 33.0% of all malicious domains blocked were new in April (a decrease of 4.0 percentage points since March 2011)
- 22.5% of all web-based malware blocked was new in April (a decrease of 1.9 percentage points since March 2011)
- Targeted attacks increase in intensity: What does a recent targeted attack look like?
- Shortened URLs: Do you know what you’re clicking on?


The report can be viewed here.

MessageLabs Intelligence Report: March 2011

MessageLabs has published their Intelligence report that sums up the latest threat trends for March 2011.

Report highlights:
- Spam – 79.3% in March (a decrease of 2.0 percentage points since February 2011)
- Viruses – One in 208.9 emails in March contained malware (an increase of 0.13 percentage points since February 2011)
- Phishing – One in 252.5 emails comprised a phishing attack (a decrease of 0.07 percentage points since February 2011)
- Malicious websites – 2,973 web sites blocked per day (a decrease of 27.5% since February 2011)
- 37.0% of all malicious domains blocked were new in March (a decrease of 1.9 percentage points since February 2011)
- 24.5% of all web-based malware blocked was new in March (an increase of 4.2 percentage points since February 2011)
- Global spam volumes drop by one third, as Rustock botnet is dismantled
- First review of spam-sending botnets in 2011 identified Bagle as most active botnet as Rustock fell silent


The report can be viewed here.

MessageLabs Intelligence Report: February 2011

MessageLabs has published their Intelligence report that sums up the latest threat trends for February 2011.

Report highlights:
- Spam – 81.3% in February (an increase of 2.7 percentage points since January 2011)
- Viruses – One in 290.1 emails in February contained malware (an increase of 0.07 percentage points since January 2010)
- Phishing – One in 216.7 emails comprised a phishing attack (an increase of 0.22 percentage points since January 2010)
- Malicious websites – 4,098 web sites blocked per day (a decrease of 13.7% since January 2011)
- 38.9% of all malicious domains blocked were new in February (a decrease of 2.2 percentage points since January 2010)
- 20.3% of all web-based malware blocked was new in February (a decrease of 1.5 percentage points since January 2010)
- Synchronized, Integrated Attacks in February: Bredolab, Zeus and SpyEye
- Diversification in Targeted Malware: PDF files become attack vector of choice
- Blog: New pharmacy spam campaign uses Google brand-hijacking
- Blog: Tenth Anniversary of the Anna Kournikova virus
- Blog: 419 Scammers Plan Ahead with 2022 World Cup Scams


The report can be viewed here.

MessageLabs Intelligence Report: January 2011

MessageLabs has published their Intelligence report that sums up the latest threat trends for January 2011.

Report highlights:
- Spam – 78.6% in January (a decrease of 3.1 percentage points since December 2010)

- Viruses – One in 364.8 emails in January contained malware (a decrease of 0.03 percentage points since December 2010)

- Phishing – One in 409.7 emails comprised a phishing attack (an increase of 0.004 percentage points since December 2010)

- Malicious websites – 2,751 websites blocked per day (a decrease of 21.5% since December 2010)

- 41.1% of all malicious domains blocked were new in January (an increase of 7.9 percentage points since December 2010). An increase in malicious domains may be related to the high proportion of email malware that also contained malicious hyperlinks; 65.1% of email malware in January contained malicious links.

- 21.8% of all web-based malware blocked was new in January (a decrease of 3.1 percentage points since December 2010)

- Spam volumes fall to lowest level in two years

- Why did global spam volumes decline in December 2010?

- The balance of power shifts between pharmaceutical spam gangs

- Blog: Targeted attack reveals new social engineering twist


The report can be viewed here.

MessageLabs Intelligence 2010 Annual Security Report

MessageLabs has published their Intelligence report wrapping up the year 2010 from security point of view.

The report can be viewed here.

MessageLabs Intelligence Report: November 2010

MessageLabs has published their Intelligence report November 2010.

Some details:
*Email security threats
- spam rate was 86.4%, last month 87.5%
- virus rate 1 in 347.2, last month 1 in 221.9
- phishing rate 1 in 615.1, last month 1 in 488.0

*Web security threats
- new sites with spyware 235/day
- new sites with web viruses 6,720/day

Complete report can be viewed here.

MessageLabs Intelligence Report: October 2010

MessageLabs has published their Intelligence report that sums up the latest threat trends for October 2010.

Report highlights:
• Spam – 87.5% in October (a decrease of 4.2
percentage points since September)
• Viruses – One in 221.9 emails in October contained
malware (a decrease of 0.01 percentage points
since September)
• Phishing – One in 488.0 emails comprised a
phishing attack (a decrease of 0.06 percentage
points since September)
• Malicious websites – 2,280 websites blocked per day
(a decrease of 23.9% since September)
• 51.3% of all malicious domains blocked were new in
October (an increase of 17.7 percentage points
since September)
• 24.7% of all web-based malware blocked was new in
October (an increase of 2.9 percentage points since
September)
• A review of targeted attacks, what they are, how they
work and how MessageLabs Intelligence measures
them
• In October the Retail sector becomes the most
targeted industry; a closer look at one retailer that
may have fallen victim to a targeted attack without
Skeptic™
• Defending against targeted attacks

The report can be viewed here.

MessageLabs Intelligence Report: September 2010

MessageLabs has published their Intelligence report that sums up the latest threat trends for September 2010.

Report highlights:
• Spam – 91.9% in September (a decrease of 0.3 percentage points since August)
• Viruses – One in 218.7 emails in September contained malware (an increase of 0.15 percentage points since August)
• Phishing – One in 382.0 emails comprised a phishing attack (a decrease of 0.01 percentage points since August)
• Malicious websites – 2,997 websites blocked per day (a decrease of 10.8% since August)
• 33.6% of all malicious domains blocked were new in September (a decrease of 0.7 percentage points since August)
• 21.8% of all web-based malware blocked was new in September (an increase of 8.9 percentage points since August)
• Understanding and Managing a Mobile Workforce – Malicious Threats and Policy Controls
• Blog Update: “Here you have” mass-mailing worm

The report can be viewed here.

MessageLabs Intelligence Report: August 2010

MessageLabs has published their Intelligence report that sums up the latest threat trends for August 2010.

Report highlights:
• Spam – 92.2% in August (an increase of 3.3 percentage points since July)
• Viruses – One in 327.6 emails in August contained malware (a decrease of 0.02 percentage points since July)
• Phishing – One in 363.1 emails comprised a phishing attack (an increase of 0.10 percentage points since July)
• Malicious websites – 3,360 websites blocked per day (a decrease of 24.1% since July)
• 34.3% of all malicious domains blocked were new in August (an increase of 3.8 percentage points since July)
• 12.9% of all web-based malware blocked was new in August (a decrease of 0.2 percentage points since July)
• Battle of the botnets - Rustock remains dominant
• US hosts the greatest number of bots, but Europe becomes home to new botnet hotspots
• Less is more: Rustock moves away from TLS encrypted spam

The report can be found here.

MessageLabs Intelligence Report: August 2009

MessageLabs has published their Intelligence report that sums up the latest threat trends for August 2009.

Report highlights:
• Spam – 88.5% in August (0.9% decrease since July)
• Viruses – one in 296.6 emails in August contained malware (almost unchanged since July)
• Phishing – one in 341.2 emails comprised a phishing attack (0.01% decrease since July)
• Malicious websites – 3,510 websites blocked per day (2.9% decrease since July)
• Latvian ISP closure dents Cutwail botnet
• Shortened-URL spam runs continue
• Social networking websites get hit by DDoS attacks

The report can be found here.

MessageLabs Intelligence Report: May 2009

MessageLabs has published their Intelligence report that sums up the latest threat trends for May 2009.

Report highlights:
• Spam – 90.4% in May (an increase of 5.1% since April)
• Viruses – One in 317.8 emails in May contained malware (a decrease of 0.01% since April)
• Phishing – One in 279.0 emails comprised a phishing attack (an increase of 0.11% since April)
• Malicious websites – 1,149 new sites blocked per day (a decrease of 67.7% since April)
• Spammers continue to abuse reputable domains and web-based malware more likely to be found on older domains
• Geographic location determines at what time of day you receive spam
• “Russian” spam squarely rooted in Cutwail botnet

The report can be found here.

Spam Amount Increased And Then Decreased In February

The start of February saw Internet spam levels rise to as high as 79.5 percent of all e-mail messages due to a spike in botnet activity and spammers leveraging the financial crisis and Valentine's Day, according to MessageLabs (now part of security company Symantec).

This is despite the fact that spam levels declined by 1.3 per cent to an average of 73.3 percent for the same month, states the February 2009 MessageLabs Intelligence Report.

Source: PC World