Symantec: Web Threats 2010

Came across this great report on the state of Web Threats this year. One of the key lessons from this report shows how cybercriminals are now focused on compromising existing web servers rather than bringing their own online. In fact, they found 90% of malicious websites are compromised sites.

Key reason for this, as explained by Symantec analyst Dan Bleaken:

The attraction of knowing that legitimate sites often come fully furnished with regular users and a good level of traffic in general, providing a ready pool of instant victims and eliminating the need to stimulate from scratch a flow of visitors to a newly established domain.

Another key stat: Only 6.9% of  compromised malicious sites had their infection removed within 7 days. Yes, 6.9%...meaning that 93% of these sites are online longer than a week.

You can find the full report at the URL below.

http://downloads.messagelabs.com/dotcom/Whitepaper_web_threats_2010_EMEA_UK_June10.pdf