Industry news

Cybercrime 'becoming more creative'

Some of the latest security threats and trends facing data networks have been highlighted in new research.

The Security Threat Report July 2008, published by IT security firm Sophos, suggests that cybercriminals are using increasingly advanced and creative methods to profit from targeting data networks.

In addition, the study found there could be more than 11 million examples of malware on the world wide web, with the firm receiving around 20,000 new samples of potentially malicious code each day - or one every four seconds.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said cybercrimals are using innovative methods to compromise IT security.

"Some of the tactics malware authors and spammers are employing to bypass traditional methods of protection are unprecedented," he explained.

In an interview with IT Pro, Mr Cluley also told how SQL injections on legitimate websites are an increasingly popular way of deploying malware.

The expert revealed that the technique allows a way for the criminals to bypass email security methods and is easy to carry out, especially on websites which are poorly designed.