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Websense 1st half 2006 - Security Trends Report

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FYI…

- http://www.websense.com/global/en/PressRoo…ease=0610031282
October 3, 2006
"…The report shows that the volume of attacks increased and malicious code became more covert, less recognizable and more targeted toward financial gain. Not only has malicious code become more sophisticated, but the infrastructure supporting its creation and spread has also become more complex. Of the sites designed to steal credentials, almost 15 percent are derived from toolkits, an emerging tactic from the hacker community. These kits, made by professional malicious code writers, are often for sale on the internet and allow non-sophisticated users to launch sophisticated attacks against operating system exploits and vulnerabilities. The criminal motive of attacks has also become more apparent as traditional hacking for fun has been replaced with activities designed to steal confidential data to reap financial rewards. The report notes a 100 percent increase in sites designed to install keyloggers, screen scrapers and other forms of crimeware. Conversely, Websense has seen more than a 60 percent drop in websites designed merely to change user preferences, such as browser settings. In the first half of 2006, Websense successfully identified and mitigated several new high-profile exploits and widespread web attacks including the continued assault on the Microsoft Windows Metafile (WMF) vulnerability and the Internet Explorer "zero-day" create text vulnerability…"

("Additional Highlights" and "Major Findings" available at the URL above.)

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FYI…

- http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20061004/tc_cmp/193101569
Oct. 3, 2006
"…"About 15 percent of malicious sites designed to steal information have kit code or a derivation of kit code," said Dan Hubbard, the vice president of security research at San Diego-based Websense… The most popular hacker toolkits are made and sold by Russian entrepreneurs, and include the well-known "WebAttacker" and the less-familiar "Nuclear Grabber" (aka "Haxdoor")… The result of kit selling has been to boost the volume of malicious sites and the speed with which unpatched, or "zero-day" vulnerabilities, are put to work by a large number of cyber-criminals, said Hubbard. Even more distressing are signs that these same kits are used to not only infect individual users' PCs, but also servers hosting sites. A stunning 40 percent of malicious sites out to steal information and identities are hosted on compromised machines, some of them running legitimate sites. "It's really a two-headed problem," said Hubbard. "There are tons of client-side exploits, but they're also attacking server-side vulnerabilities." That's when things get really dicey. Advice to steer clear of "bad" Web neighborhoods – porn, free software and screensaver sites, and the like – doesn't do users any good if legitimate URLs are being used to distribute exploits. "The bad guys are getting more professional," said Hubbard, "and that makes them more difficult to stop"…"

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