Volume 16 of the Symantec Internet Security Threat Report covers trends in the Internet security threat landscape during 2010. It has been an interesting year, to say the least. We saw vulnerabilities implicated in major events such as the Trojan.Hydraq Incident, the Stuxnet attacks, and numerous zero-day attacks.

Here are some highlights:

-          In terms of the sheer number of new vulnerabilities discovered, 2010 was a record year. At the time of writing, we documented 6,253 new vulnerabilities over the year.

-          The rise in vulnerabilities was influenced by an increase in the number of new vendors that were affected by vulnerabilities in 2010. In 2010, Symantec documented 1,914 new vendors that were impacted by vulnerabilities, compared to 734 new vendors in 2009.

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2011 Internet Security Threat Report Identifies Increased Risks for SMBs
Kevin Haley, Director, Symantec Security Technology and Response

Small businesses have flexibility that can provide them with a competitive edge in today’s Internet-based market. And, with ever more business being conducted online, keeping your sensitive information safe is more critical than ever.

Hackers do not care what the size of your business is. They only care if they can get past your defenses and relieve you of your valuables. What hackers do like about a small business is that they tend to have more money in the bank than an end-user and less cyber defenses than a larger company. And these hackers are no longer limited to highly skilled computer geeks. Using easily available attack toolkits, even a relative novice can infect your computers and extract all the information they...

A mass injection campaign has been started by attackers who are using the BlackHole exploit kit, in which a number of high traffic influx websites are hacked and injected with an iframe that redirects users to a BlackHole server. The number of websites infected gives a fair idea about the popularity of this toolkit in the crimeware industry. Among the number of websites hacked there is a popular news website in Africa, a popular website among techies, and an official website for colleges overseas. The below image shows the common iframe injected across all affected websites:

The script is decoded by the “getSeconds();” value retrieved from the Date Class. The below image shows the decoded iframe:

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Many countries are going through turbulent times due to natural disasters. In fact, emotions do run high when disasters strike—people are moved and understandably want to share in helping affected victims by donating to relief funds. The most recent natural disaster that Australia, Brazil, and the Philippines are grappling with is the flash flooding and the immense loss that it has caused to life and property.

History tells us that when natural disasters such as bush fires, floods, earthquakes and other natural calamities strike, they cause untold repercussions. Rehabilitation, restructuring, and methods to curtail further losses become a formidable challenge. One method used to combat such situations is the appeal for relief funds, donations, and government compensations in cash or kind.

Spammers would never let any such opportunities pass by without preying on them. Don’t be surprised to see your inbox bombarded with heart-wrenching emails requesting you...