With all of the mesmerizing, distracting, and conditioning activities the Internet has to offer in the form of social networking, apps, and mobile diversions, it’s little wonder that the report “Internet Security Threat Report, Volume 16” from Symantec finds hacker attacks, security breaches, and the proliferation of malware escalating. The report further points out the ever greater sophistication in which cyber attacks originate and execute.

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Symantec’s numerous observations about last year include its identification of more than 286 million unique threats in 2010. The company also labels 2010 as the year of the targeted attack, i.e., criminals directing attacks at a specific company or group of companies. For example, attackers target specific victims in a corporation, then execute specific social-engineering attacks to invade the victims’ networks.

The report cites social networks as highly desirable targets for cybercriminals whose favorite technique is the use of shortened URLs. Reportedly, attackers posted millions of shortened links on social networking sites last year to lure users into phishing and malware schemes.

Another threat that came to the surface in 2010 involves kits that exploit vulnerabilities in the Java system and infect browser plug-ins. One such kit, the Phoenix toolkit, was responsible for the most attack activity in 2010. Overall, Symantec attributes two-thirds of all Web-based threat activity to attack kits.

The report cites more threats and vulnerabilities to other Web and mobile platforms as well as how they will increase in 2011. So start buying, installing, and using as much security software as you can, as fast as you can, if you can. To view Symantec’s analysis of the report, go to www.symantec.com/about/news/release/article.jsp?prid=20110404_03.

Symantec
www.symantec.com