Millions exposed to social engineering scams: AVG

BANGALORE, INDIA: 8 to 14 million unique users worldwide are exposed to social

engineering scams, says the recently released AVG Web-Threat Profile Report 2009.

The report gives unique insight into up-to-date threat trends, behaviors, and advanced prevention solutions. It summarizes the latest observations and trends tracked by AVG’s global research team, led by Chief Research Officer Roger Thompson.

Key findings:

• From the second quarter of 2008 through the first quarter of 2009, an average of 60 percent
  
  of poisoned web sites and 85 percent of poisoned pages were gone within 24 hours or less.
• On any given day, 8 to 14 million unique users worldwide are exposed to social
  
  engineering scams.
• Rogue spyware scanner attacks have been on a dramatic spike over the last quarter, with
  
  more than a 300 percent gain in these attacks in Q1 2009 versus Q4 of 2008.
• There was a 300 percent spike in February and a 200 percent spike in March of fake codec
  
  threats versus January of 2009.
• Social engineering will eventually become the most prevalent attack method.
• The current down economy may be exacerbating web attacks around get-rich quick schemes
  
  and the vulnerabilities of those more active on the web in search of jobs or financial gain.
• Internet users need real-time, multi-layered protection to handle the dynamic, complex
  
  nature of threats to today’s web sites and pages.