Cyber threats skyrocket
By Asha

Online security software giant Symantec has released the findings of its Internet Security Threat Report which shows a massive threat volume of more than 286 million new threats last year, accompanied by several new megatrends in the threat landscape.

Threat Landscape Key Facts and Figures:

- 286 million new threats – Polymorphism and new delivery mechanisms such as Web attack toolkits continued to drive up the number of distinct malware programs. In 2010, Symantec encountered more than 286 million unique malicious programs.

- 93 percent increase in Web-based attacks – Web attack toolkits drove the 93 percent increase in the volume of Web-based attacks in 2010. The use of shortened URLs also impacted this increase.

- 260,000 identities exposed per breach – This is the average number of identities exposed per breach in data breaches caused by hacking during 2010.

- 14 new zero-day vulnerabilities – Zero-day vulnerabilities played a key role in targeted attacks including Hydraq and Stuxnet. Stuxnet alone used four different zero-day vulnerabilities.

- 6,253 new vulnerabilities – Symantec documented more vulnerabilities in 2010 than in any previous reporting period.

- 42 percent more mobile vulnerabilities – In a sign that cybercriminals are starting to focus their efforts on the mobile space, the number of reported new mobile operating system vulnerabilities increased, from 115 in 2009 to 163 in 2010.

- One botnet with more than a million spambots – Rustock, the largest botnet observed in 2010, had more than one million bots under its control at one point during the year. Other botnets such as Grum and Cutwail followed with many hundreds of thousands of bots each.

- 74 percent of spam related to pharmaceuticals – Nearly three quarters of all spam in 2010 was related to pharmaceutical products—a great deal of which was related to pharmaceutical websites and related brands.

- $15 per 10,000 bots – Symantec observed an advertisement that listed the price for 10,000 bot-infected computers as $15 on an underground forum in 2010. Bots are typically used for spam or rogueware campaigns, but are increasingly also used for DDoS attacks.

- $0.07 to $100 per credit card – The price for credit card data on underground forums ranged widely in 2010. Factors dictating prices include the rarity of the card and discounts offered for bulk purchases.