Sunday, June 15, 2008

International Internet Security Report

A report entitled Malicious Software (Malware): A Security Threat to the Internet Economy was released by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).

"After hearing descriptions of "spyware" and "adware", 43% of internet users, or about 59 million American adults, say they have had one of these programs on their home computer."

"A recent study by Google that examined several billion URLs and included an in-depth analysis of 4.5 million found that, of that sample, 700 000 seemed malicious and that 450 000 were capable of launching malicious downloads."

"in 2006, the Chinese National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team Coordination Center (CNCERT/CC) reported that 12 million IP addresses in China were controlled by botnets" where a "botnet is a group of malware infected computers also called “zombies” or bots that can be used remotely to carry out attacks against other computer systems."

"Microsoft reported an increase in the number of machines disinfected by its Malicious Software Removal Tool from less than 4 million at the beginning of 2005 to more than 10 million at the end of 2006".

"One association of banks in the United Kingdom estimated the direct losses caused by malware to its member organizations at GBP 12.2 M in 2004, GBP 23.2 M in 2005, and GBP 33.5 M in 2006, an increase of 90% from 2004 and 44% from 2005".

Because of malware, a survey estimated that "the annual loss to United States businesses at USD 67.2 billion".

Many other interesting and useful findings are presented in the report. This is a must read report for anybody concerned with internet security.

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