ScanSafe has released its latest Global Threat Report on Web and instant messaging (IM), spyware and Web viruses. Among the reports key findings, the company saw a 40 per cent increase in U.S.-based requests for gambling-related Web pages, despite the fact that on October 13, 2006 President Bush signed the "Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act" into law. The company also said that spyware increased for the second consecutive month as the online holiday shopping season gets underway.

The ScanSafe Global Threat Report is based on real-time analysis of more than five billion Web requests and more than 10 million Web threats processed by the company in October and is the largest analysis of Web security threats based on real-world traffic.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act prohibits U.S. banks and other brokers from transferring funds to Internet gambling sites. The Act was signed following the arrests in the US of several online gambling executives, including the CEO of BetonSports, a company publicly traded in the UK. The law requires federal regulators to come up with regulations to identify and block money transactions to gambling sites within 270 days from the date the bill is signed into law. In the wake of the legislation, some gambling sites have refused to accept bets from U.S. players.

The company recorded a 15 per cent increase in spyware and adware in October, following a 21 per cent increase in September.

In a survey of 1,500 users conducted in the run-up to Christmas in 2005, ScanSafe found that over a third of office workers had shopped online while at work or were planning to do so. Yet, 60 per cent of respondents were not worried at all about the potential security risks. IT administrators should deploy solutions that allow them to quickly and easily monitor and if necessary, restrict access to online shopping sites for individual users or groups of users during the next few months. For consumers, ScanSafe encourages the use of Scandoo (URL below), an online tool that allows users to conduct Internet searches more safely. Currently in beta, Scandoo is a free tool that scans search results for malware and unwanted content in real-time, warning users about potentially dangerous sites before they visit them. Search results are classified with icons - a green icon if it is safe, an amber icon if its unclassified and should be approached with caution or a red icon if its one to be avoided. Sites containing malware are clearly identified with a bug icon.

In addition to its findings on spyware, ScanSafe reported a 1 per cent increase in Web viruses in October, compared to a 47 per cent decrease the previous month. The company blocked 176 unique viruses in October, 35 per cent of which were new unique viruses viruses blocked for the first time by ScanSafe. For the second consecutive month, zero-hour threats attacks that appear before an anti-virus signature is available accounted for 14 per cent of all Web-viruses blocked by ScanSafe.

[Of course the market will go where it wants to go. As clearly demonstrated by e.g. the narcotics trade legislators can do very little to change that. Wasting tax payers' money to attempt to is just ridiculous. --Ed].

Related links: (Open in a new window.)
www.scansafe.com
www.nytimes.com/2006/07/18/technology/18gamble.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5088&en=86d23b44d0868c0e&ex=1310875200&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HR04411:@@@D&summ2=m&
www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec06/gambling_10-16.html
www.scandoo.com/

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