CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jul 19, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) —
The APWG reports in its Q1 2012 Phishing Activity Trends Report
released this week that the number of brands targeting by phishing
attacks sustained an all-time high of 382 in February and March of this
year, while cybercrime gangs deployed a record number of phishing
websites during the same quarter.
APWG Secretary General Peter Cassidy said, “The reach and ambition of
cybercrime gangs advances apace today, a decade on from when the first
phishing attacks were reported. In the first quarter of the year,
reports received by the APWG indicate new record highs in the numbers of
attacks on identifiable brands, the numbers of phishing websites to lure
Web users – and in the proportion of malware executables comprised of
advanced Trojans for cybercrime.”
The APWG reports that February and March 2012 sustained an all-time high
of 392 brands targeted by phishers. This was an 8 percent increase from
the previous all-time high of 362, recorded in December 2011. The
previous high before December was 356, reached in October 2009.
Meanwhile, the number of unique phishing sites detected in a single
month by the APWG reached 56,859 in February, which was an all-time
high. The February figure eclipsed the previous record high of 56,362,
which was recorded in August 2009, by almost 1 percent.
In the first three months of 2012, PandaLabs identified more than six
million unique malware samples. Most of the infections were caused by
Trojans (80 percent of all new malware samples), setting a new record
high. According to Luis Corrons, PandaLabs Technical Director and APWG Trends
Report contributing analyst, “This demonstrates that massive worm
epidemics have become a thing of the past, and have been replaced by a
silent Trojan invasion.”
“Phishing measurements are up across the board, with one of the biggest
increases we have ever seen in a single quarter,” said Ihab Shraim, CISO
and VP, AntiFraud Operations and Engineering, MarkMonitor. “[W]e also
observed the payment services category returning to its position as the
second-most-popular phishing sector and large increases in activity in
the social networking, ISP, and government sectors, too.”
Carl Leonard of Websense Security Labs said, “This quarter, we saw an
interesting scam using a pdf attachment as a lure to capture personally
identifiable information. The information in that pdf file was a faked
signed document from a popular global banking institution.”
The full text of the report is available here:
Click to access apwg_trends_report_q1_2012.pdf
These and other findings will be discussed at the APWG Fall Conference
and Research Summit this October 22-25 in Puerto Rico. Details can be
found here:
http://apwg.org/events/2012_ecrime.html
Highlights of the Q1, 2012 report include:
—
During the quarter, USA remained the top nation for hosting
phishing-based Trojans, and Azerbaijan cracked the top 10 for the
first time ever, in March 2012
—
The average number of infected PCs across the globe stands at 35.51
percent, which is more than three percentage points lower than in 2011
—
China continues to be the most affected country (with 54.10 percent of
infected PCs), and remains the only country with an infection ratio
over 50 percent
—
Brand-Domain Pairs Measurement is up across the board with one of the
biggest increases ever seen in a single quarter
—
In the first three months of 2012, more than six million unique
malware samples were identified
—
Financial Services continued to be the most-targeted industry sector
in the first quarter of 2012
—
Sweden set a new hygienic record with the lowest percentage of
PCs infected by malware, with less than 18 percent of its computers so
affected
About the APWG
The APWG, founded in 2003 as the Anti-Phishing Working Group, is the
global industry, law enforcement, and government coalition focused on
unifying the global response to electronic crime. Membership is open to
qualified financial institutions, online retailers, ISPs and Telcos, the
law enforcement community, solutions providers, multi-lateral treaty
organizations, research centers, trade associations and government
agencies. There are more than 2,000 companies, government agencies and
NGOs participating in the APWG worldwide. The APWG’s
and
and founder/curator of the eCrime Researchers Summit, the world’s only
peer-reviewed conference dedicated specifically to electronic crime
studies .
Among APWG’s corporate sponsors are as follows: Afilias Ltd., AhnLab,
ATT(T), Avast!, AVG Technologies, BBN Technologies, Barracuda Networks,
BillMeLater, Bkav, Booz Allen Hamilton, Blue Coat, BrandMail,
BrandProtect, Bsecure Technologies, Check Point Software Technologies,
Comcast, CSIRTBANELCO, Cyber Defender, Cyveillance, Domain Tools, Easy
Solutions, eBay/PayPal (EBAY), eCert, EC Cert, ESET, EST Soft, Facebook,
Fortinet, FraudWatch International, F-Secure, GlobalSign, GoDaddy,
Google, GroupIB, Hauri, Hitachi Systems, Ltd., Huawei Symantec, ICANN,
Iconix, IID, IronPort, ING Bank, Intuit, IT Matrix, Kindsight, LaCaixa,
Lenos Software, MailShell, MarkMonitor, M86Security, McAfee
(MFE), Melbourne IT, MessageLevel, Microsoft (MSFT), MicroWorld,
Mirapoint, MyPW, nProtect Online Security, Netcraft, Network Solutions,
NeuStar, Nominet, Nominum, Public Interest Registry, Panda Software,
Phishlabs, Phishme.com, Phorm, Planty.net, Prevx, Proofpoint, QinetiQ,
Return Path, RSA Security (EMC), RuleSpace, SAIC (From Science to
Solutions), SalesForce, SecureBrain, S21sec, SIDN, SoftForum, SoftLayer,
SoftSecurity, SOPHOS, SunTrust, SurfControl, Symantec (SYMC), Tagged,
TDS Telecom, Telefonica (TEF), TransCreditBank, Trend Micro (TMIC),
Vasco (VDSI), VeriSign (VRSN), Websense Inc. (WBSN), Wombat Security
Technologies, Yahoo! (YHOO), zvelo and ZYNGA.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50347210lang=en
SOURCE: APWG
APWG
Peter Cassidy, +1 617-669-1123
pcassidy@antiphishing.org
http://www.antiphishing.org or
MarkMonitor
Te Smith, +1 831-818-1267
Te.Smith@markmonitor.com
http://www.markmonitor.org or
PandaLabs
Luis Corrons
lcorrons@pandasoftware.es
http://www.pandasoftware.es or
Websense
publicrelations@websense.com
http://www.websense.com
Copyright Business Wire 2012