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Security Response from Symantec conducts in-depth research and analysis of current Internet threat trends.
Our detailed reports are designed to help your organization implement effective security measures to better protect and manage your information.
The Symantec Report on the Underground Economy is a detailed look into an online underground economy that has matured into an efficient, global marketplace in which stolen goods and fraud-related services are regularly bought and sold, and where the estimated value of goods offered by individual traders is measured in millions of dollars.
Credit card information is the most advertised category of goods and services on the underground economy, accounting for 31 percent of the total. While stolen credit card numbers sell for as little as $0.10 to $25 per card, the average advertised stolen credit card limit observed by Symantec was more than $4,000.
The second most common category of goods and services advertised was financial accounts at 20 percent of the total. While stolen bank account information sells for between $10 and $1,000, the average advertised stolen bank account balance is nearly $40,000.
The popularity of financial account information is likely due to its potential for high payouts and the speed at which payouts can be made. In one case, financial accounts were cashed out online to untraceable locations in less than 15 minutes.
The third ranked category of advertised goods and services for sale was spam and phishing information, with 19 percent of the total. This category includes email addresses, email account passwords, scams, and mailers. For requests, it ranked second, with 21 percent of the total. Spam can be a serious security concern because it can be used to deliver malicious code and phishing attempts.
Find out more in the latest Underground Report from Symantec.
A significant spike in new malicious code threats occurred during 2008. Symantec created 1,656,227 new malicious code signatures during this time period. This is a 165 percent increase over 2007, when 624,267 new malicious code signatures were added. This means that of all the malicious code signatures created by Symantec, more than 60 percent of that total was created in 2008. The explosive growth can be attributed to the professionalism of malicious code development, supporting the demand for goods and services that facilitate online fraud
Malicious code that exposes confidential information is a valued asset in the underground economy. Advertisements seeking malicious code authors are often looking for a one-time development of specific code to create new variants of existing threats, rather than developing entirely new threats.
Variants of existing malicious code can be developed more easily and can therefore be posted for sale on the underground market much more quickly. This is evidenced by the flourishing profitability of confidential information sales, as discussed in the Symantec Report on the Underground Economy, November 2008.
Find out more in the latest Internet Threat Report from Symantec.
During the first week of each month Symantec issues a State of Spam Report summarizing the spam trends and email threats from the previous month.
The State of Spam Report leverages security data from the Symantec Global Intelligence Network to keep you informed of the latest threats to your email.
Spam represents more than 80% off all email traffic, a problem that affects the network, budget and employee productivity.
During the last six months of 2007, 42 percent of all spam detected worldwide originated in the United States, compared to 50 percent in the previous period.
In the last months of 2008, United States originated more than 26% of all spam. Brazil had between 5 and 7 percent of spam worldwide.
Spam related to commercial products made up 27 percent of all spam during this period, the most of any category and an increase from 22 percent in the previous period. In the second half of 2007, 0.16 percent of all spam email contained malicious code, compared to 0.43 percent of spam that contained malicious code in the first half of 2007. This means that one out of every 617 spam messages blocked by Symantec Brightmail AntiSpam contained malicious code .
Find out more in the latest Spam Report from Symantec.
