Web site-based crimeware hits all-time high

CAMBRIDGE, MASS, INDIA: The APWG, an independent coalition combating electronic crime, finds that rates of crimeware-spreading sites and rogue anti-malware programs used for a number of electronic crimes exploded during late 2008, indicating that electronic crime gangs are investing deeply in automated systems to steal personal and enterprise data.

The '2^nd Half/2008 /APWG Phishing Activity Trends Report', released reveals that the number of crimeware-spreading sites infecting PCs with password-stealing crimeware reached an all time high of 31,173 in December. This represents an 827 percent increase from January 2008.

Further, the report finds that rogue anti-malware programs increased 225 percent from 2,850 in July to 9,287 in December. (Rogue Anti-Malware Programs are fake anti-malware products that can be used for automated phishing, extortion)

Dave Jevans, chairman, APWG, said, "While phishing attacks continued, we saw that cyber criminals focused on new efforts in spreading malicious software, Trojans and crimeware. In particular, criminals are attempting to install software onto consumer's computers in order to steal passwords and login credentials. Consumers must be wary not only of fake emails purporting from banks, but also beware of fake security software from unknown vendors and, more than ever, websites programmed to infect PCs."

Other highlights from 2^nd Half/2008 /APWG Phishing Activity Trends Report:

? Unique phishing reports submitted to APWG recorded a yearly high of 34,758 in October

? Unique phishing websites detected by APWG during the second half of 2008 saw a constant increase from July with October having the high for the half at 27,739

? The number of unique keyloggers and crimeware-oriented malicious applications rose to an all-time high in July, reaching 1,519

? The 2^nd half high of 269 targeted brands in November is just 8.5 percent lower than in May’s all-time high of 294

? The number of phishing attacks against payment services increased more than 34 percent between Q3 and Q4 

Blake Hayward, vice president, Product Marketing, MarkMonitor and contributing analyst of /Phishing Activity Trends Report/, said, "The rise in targeted brands suggests that phishers are scaling their operations to conduct multi-brand attacks."

Dan Hubbard, chief technology officer, Websense, and APWG Research Fellow, said that the major uptick of malicious code URLs was mostly due to some large attacks that were using huge amounts of random websites for phishing campaigns that were spoofing classmates’ websites.

Luis Corrons, technical director, Panda Lab and contributory analyst of APWG Phishing Activity Trends Report, said: "Rogue anti-malware applications are not something new. They have been around for a few years. But it was not until mid-2008 when cybercriminals realized that this form of attack was a great way to obtain fresh money from users.”