Worldwide, an average of 144 billion legitimate emails and 97.4 billion spam messages are sent every day. As our dependence on email grows in our personal and professional lives, so too does the prevalence of unsolicited and unsafe messages. A new report has found that in the first quarter of this year there has been a dramatic increase of email security risks, with threat levels reaching their highest marks ever in March.
The information, compiled by Commtouch and StopBadware, found that in the month of March alone, 117.8 billion spam messages were sent daily, 20.4 billion higher than the average. This means that spam doubled between December 2012 and March 2013. Phishing, the act of attempting to acquire personal information by impersonating a trustworthy entity, also increased 74 percent over that same time period.
“The dramatic rise in the quantity of unwanted and dangerous emails during the first quarter of 2013 shows that email communication is still one of the key attack vectors,” said Avi Turiel, director of threat research and market analysis at Commtouch. “Email is still the most popular communication tool for private users and businesses alike, making it an attractive target for cybercriminals.”
The United States was the largest source of spam in the first quarter of the year, carrying 9.1 percent of the overall volume. Other countries where a high amount of spam originated include:
- Belarus – 6.5 percent
- Spain – 5.6 percent
- Argentina – 5.0 percent
- India – 4.3 percent
The growing threat of email malware
Email distributed malware is also on the rise, reaching the highest levels ever recorded in the first quarter of the year, 157 percent higher in March than it was in December 2012. There was also a boost in the number of viruses reported, which increased 290 percent over that same period.
“The rise in both emails with malware attachments and drive-by-attacks also indicates that malware distributors don’t shift their focus from one attack vector to another,” explained Turiel. “To the contrary, they diversify their attack methods in order to increase the efficiency of their campaigns and in order to bypass some anti-spam and antivirus measures.”
In addition, a growing number of stealthy and complex malware attacks are being launched against major websites. For example, one malicious software program has been infecting popular web servers with malware, causing web visitors to be redirected to a site that downloads a virus onto their computer. So far, 400 web servers have been infected and 50 are ranked in the list of top 100,000 websites, reported InfoWorld.
“We believe the operators behind this malware campaign are making significant efforts to keep their operation under the radar and to hinder monitoring efforts as much as possible,” Marc-Etienne M. Leveille of Eset explained in the article. “For them, not being detected seems to be a priority over infecting as many victims as possible.”
Technology security experts have been unable to discover how the malware is taking hold of servers, making it absolutely critical that computer users install anti-malware and virus scanners that can minimize the chances of infection. A product like System Mechanic Pro can protect users opening emails, browsing online and downloading software.
To learn more about securing your computer against these and other threats, visit the iolo Technology’s technologies website.
