MessageLabs has published its intelligence report for July.

Overall global threat levels remain relatively stable as in previous months, although, regionally Israel was the most spammed country at 77.3 per cent of all email, while India continues to bear the brunt of virus attacks, with 1 in every 11.1 emails containing a virus. However, it has been a month of victimization for prolific and populated online tools and social networking sites with MySpace, AOLs IM service and Googles Gmail having been recently used for attacks.

With a global increase in the uptake of social networking portals, such as MySpace, we are seeing the bad guys increasingly target these sites, exploiting user-ignorance around this new form of communication and stealing personal information for spamming purposes, a MessageLabs spokesperson said. Interestingly, we have also seen phishing attacks evolve onto new platforms, such as VoIP, whereby spoof phone calls are made to victims to extract their credit card details. This clearly demonstrates the constant level of innovation by cyber criminals to leverage new modes of Internet level communication and capture a victims personal identity.

Spam: In July, the global ratio of spam in email traffic from new and unknown bad sources was 62.7 per cent (1 in 1.59), a decrease of 2.1 per cent on the previous month.

Viruses: In July, the global ratio of viruses in email traffic from new and previously unknown bad sources destined for valid recipients was 1 in every 96.6 emails (1.04 per cent), an increase of 0.05 per cent since June. MessageLabs continues to monitor how large scale virus outbreaks have almost become a thing of the past, as attacks are becoming increasingly more targeted with specific business aims.

Phishing: July showed an increase of 0.03 per cent in the proportion of phishing attacks compared with the previous month with one in every 459.8 (0.22 per cent) of emails being a phishing attack. The number of phishing attacks as a proportion of all email-borne threats also increased by 2 per cent, now accounting for 21 per cent of all malicious emails intercepted by MessageLabs, compared to the July 2005 figure of 9.6 per cent. MessageLabs predicts phishing to continue to increase in the coming months, as attacks continue to evolve and become smarter, making it an attractive space for cyber-criminals to infiltrate and be an issue for both the enterprise and consumer alike.

Geographic Trends:

• India continues to be the most affected country in the virus chart, with the proportion of virus-laden emails decreasing to one in 11.1 (9 per cent) since June, staying top of the virus chart for the fifth consecutive month
  
• After the sharpest fall in virus attacks in June, it was full-circle for Germany with the greatest increase in virus traffic this month. Virus-borne traffic email rose by 1.4 per cent on the previous month to one in 36.5 emails containing a virus
  
• Belgium is the least affected country, with one in 149.2 emails containing a virus
  
• Israel continues to receive the greatest proportion of spam, with 77.3 per cent, up by 1.4 per cent on the previous month
  
• Australia measured the largest fall in spam attacks, where spam levels dropped to 48.8 per cent, falling 3.2 per cent

Vertical/Industry Trends:

• The vertical most targeted in July, with 1 in 12 of emails containing a virus, was the business support services sector however it also demonstrated the largest fall across all sectors by 8.4 per cent
  
• The accommodation/catering sector registered the greatest rise in virus traffic, with 1 in 56.5 emails harboring a virus this is an increase of 0.5 per cent since June
  
• The education sector continued to measure the greatest number of email spam, increasing by 1.8 per cent to 67 per cent
  
• The vertical most affected by email spam was the mineral/fuel sector, increasing by 9.8 per cent to 54.5 per cent
  
• The greatest drop in spam was seen in the chemical/pharmaceutical sector, which saw spam traffic fall by 9.8 per cent to 62.7 per cent

The July MessageLabs Intelligence Report provides greater detail on all the trends and figures noted above, as well as more detailed geographical and vertical trends.

Related links: (Open in a new window.)
www.messagelabs.com/Threat_Watch/Intelligence_Reports
www.messagelabs.com/Threat_Watch

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