In the time it takes to read this … $10,000 has been lost to cybercrime
The Internet is constantly and rapidly evolving. The presence of dynamic Web 2.0 elements on many Web sites today allow just about anyone to create and distribute content to a wide number of people. Unfortunately, this also creates an easy opportunity for cybercriminals to spread their malware. Web-based threats are constantly changing in an effort to stay ahead of the security industry. One minute a legitimate Web site with a good reputation may be safe, and the next minute it may be compromised with data-stealing Trojan horses and spyware.
In the time it takes you to read this blog post:
- 12 new computer virus variants will have been written or generated*
- $10,000 will be lost to phishing attacks and other cybercrime in the US alone*
- Time spent deleting spam email will have cost American businesses $126,000***
And in just one hour on the Internet:
- Six Web application exploits will have been released
- More than 5,000 machines will have joined a bot network
But it’s not all gloom and doom. There is a way to stay on top of the latest threats and prevent them from infecting computer networks and stealing valuable data.
In the time it takes you to read this blog post, Websense will have:
- Scanned more than 2 million Web sites for malicious code
- Scanned nearly 500,000 emails for unwanted content and malicious code
- Caught 199,000 spam emails
- Caught 14,000 spam emails that contain a link to a malicious Web site
- Detected 46 legitimate Web sites that have been compromised with malicious code
In just one hour, Websense will have:
- Analyzed and classified more than 100 unique pieces of malware
- Assigned reputation to more than 2 million domains
Websense is able to do all this with the help of the Websense Security Labs™ and the Websense ThreatSeeker Network™. The ThreatSeeker Network is the world’s first Internet HoneyGrid™; a system that uses hundreds of technologies including honeyclients, honeypots, reputation systems, machine learning and advanced grid computing systems to parse through more than 1.5 billion pieces of content daily, searching for security threats. Using more than 50 million data collecting systems, the ThreatSeeker Network scans more than 40 million Web sites and nearly 10 million emails every hour, looking for unwanted content and malicious code. On average, ThreatSeeker Network identifies 250,000 new threats each month that traditional anti-virus systems do not cover.
The threat intelligence gathered by Websense ThreatSeeker Network is incorporated into all Websense Web, data and email security products to provide customers the industry’s most advanced protection from security threats.
*http://twitter.com/BitDefenderLabs/statuses/2404127341
**Gartner Says Number of Phishing Attacks on U.S. Consumers Increased 40 Percent in 2008. Press release published April 14, 2009.
***Statistical Analysis of Internet Security Threats by Daniel G. James, available at www.infosecwriters.com.
