20 May 2005
Security experts have warned of a substantial rise in the number and complexity of hacking attacks during the first half of 2005.
According to research commissioned by carrier AT&T, the volume of traditional email attachment viruses has fallen, but the speed at which new variants are appearing is increasing.
Other threats like phishing and spyware are also on the increase, the study warned.
"We have seen more attacks in the past six months than we have in the past couple of years," said Bill Archer, president of AT&T Europe.
"The diversity, frequency and - I hate to say it - innovation in the way that company assets are attacked are changing rapidly. You need to be constantly keeping on top of it."
Malcolm Harkins, director of information security at Intel, added: "In terms of what we've seen, phishing and spyware have increased a lot.
"Even if you look at the recent instant messaging worms people are using different tools and technology. People have got smarter about email threats, but they have not translated these skills to instant messaging and other media."
Harkins explained that, while most computer users are reasonably virus-aware, new social engineering techniques are still catching them out.
Most people know that clicking on a URL, for example, can have serious security consequences, but users are still falling for instant messages asking them to do just that.
Latest stories from Security
Related videos
Related articles
Related jobs
Poll
What will be the biggest change to corporate technology in the future?
TFL director of Games transport Mark Evers discusses how the public transport network is preparing for this summer's event
Connect with V3.co.uk
The wrong printers, for the wrong tasks on the wrong contracts
Who leads the BI pack and who should we be watching out for?
Head of Compliance My client is currently seeking...
THis role is working for a multi national Financial organisation...
Professional Services Consultant - Data Protection, Backup...
Web Support Analyst (Drupal, Joomla or Wordpress, CMS...
Keep up to date with the latest products, services and technologies from the world's leading IT companies. IThound.com brings you over 2,000 white papers, case studies and analyst reports.
Do you agree?