May saw a resurgence in the amount of viruses in
circulation and the number of phishing attacks.
The latest monthly report from managed security vendor
MessageLabs
noted that virus attacks, and particularly Trojan
attacks, increased by a third month on month, in part due to the Bagel
virus.
Meanwhile phishing reached its highest level of all time, after declining
since January. MessageLabs logged over nine million phishing attacks in May,
over three times the number in April.
"As the financial stakes increase, criminals have become much more familiar
with the use of IT in the commission of these types of fraud and criminal
activities," said Paul Wood, chief information security analyst at MessageLabs.
"Although any measure taken to update the law to address this trend is to be
welcomed, the issue really needs to be tackled at source.
"Industry and government co-operation is essential to identify and shut down
perpetrators, alongside a tighter legal framework and stronger enforcement
powers.
"More specifically, ISPs should face up to their
responsibility to protect their customers."
Do you agree?
Have your say on this article