Israel a Hotbed of Internet Attacks, Report Says
Israel has the dubious honor of being home to the most malicious Internet activity per Internet user, according to Symantec's twice-yearly Internet Security Threat Report. The latest report, covering the second half of 2006, was just released today.
This was the first time Symantec measured how much activity like spam origination, phishing site hosting and bot-infected computers could be attributed to an average Internet user. From July through December, 9 percent of all such activity traced back to Israel. Taiwan came next with 8 percent, while Poland and the US tied with 6.
Dave Cole, Director of the Symantec security response team, says it doesn't mean that viruses and phishing sites are necessarily created in Israel. A site or piece of malware could be created anywhere, but Israel is the unfortunate largest host per-capita to more than anywhere else.
Cole suggested Israel's "extremely high Internet penetration" might be the reason why, along with a large number of new Internet users who are more vulnerable to potential attack.
For overall numbers, the US still has the most malicious activity at 31 percent. China was second with 10 percent.
Other interesting points from the report include:
* Three out of four attacks against Web browsers target IE.
* IE had 92 new vulnerabilities, Mozilla 87.
* Microsoft took an average of 10 days to close IE security flaws, while Mozilla took 2 days for Firefox.
* US-issued credit cards and debit card numbers were by far the most likely to be found for sale on the black market (86 percent).
* Phishers love soccer, too: Symantec saw a 40 percent spike in phishing messages sent out during the World Cup.
* Trojans are the malware most likely to make it onto a PC. 60 percent of attempted or cleaned infections (by Symantec) are Trojans.
For the full report, head to Symantec's site.
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Erik Larkin, you are just an Anti-Semite. How dare you speak about Israel in such a way. God will send on you a wave of Spams, bots and Viruses if you don't repent right now and denounce violence against Israel!
What a ridiculous conclusion, eilmosa. Thinking people can discuss Israel in any context they wish and not be anti-semite. Perhaps, instead of threating to send your god to kill the messenger's computer, you clean up your own act, scan your computer, and work toward helping Israel be a better neighbor and citizen of the World.
God Bless Freedom of Speech. Thanks to PC World and Thanks to Symantec.
To me, elimosa's comment seems more sarcastic than serious. In either case it's only a childish way to respond to some real issues. Not that childish is bad or anything :D I love childish. You just have to adapt to it: hey elimosa, it's ok, just be sure your god has the latest Scanhill and Wireshark. Oh and don't forget to post your peacefull and divine revelations on the most popular underground hacking websites.
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Israel has produced software to CHEAT on online polls. It's called "megaphone software". Look it up yourself.
'Megaphone' software, A New Way For Jews to Manipulate Public Opinon
Politics ? This software is used to rally people to forums, polls ect. in order to tip the balance towards a pro-Israeli stance. Is it right for anybody or any group to actively manipulate public opinion on the internet in such a manner?
LOL well it's good to be number 1 in something :-)
but i personally prefer to be number 1 in the world cup.
we can do it :-)