Advice to visit only legitimate Web sites appears to be meaningless as increasing numbers of mainstream sites contain known malicious code.

Thomas Claburn, Editor at Large, Enterprise Mobility

January 21, 2009

1 Min Read

Internet users are often encouraged to visit only legitimate Web sites to reduce the risk of malware infections, but distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate Web sites increasingly appears to be meaningless.

Seventy percent of the top 100 Web sites either hosted malicious content or contained a link designed to redirect site visitors to a malicious Web site during the second half of 2008, claims Websense's report State of Internet Security, Q3-Q4, 2008.

That represents a 16% increase over the first half of 2008.

Perhaps more to the point, Websense says that 77% of Web sites with known malicious code are "legitimate" sites, calling into question the utility of any such designation of approval.

There are a variety of ways that brand-name sites can be compromised, including online iFrame injection services that rely on stolen logon information or SQL injection attacks.

Spam messages with malicious links can also lead to site compromises. According to Websense's report, almost 85% of e-mail messages were spam during the second half of 2008, and more than 90% of spam messages contained links to spam sites or malicious sites.

Only 6% of spam messages were phishing attempts, a 33% decrease from the first six months of 2008. Malware authors appear to be focusing more on data-stealing Trojans and DNS poisoning to accomplish their goals.

Porn-related spam surged 94% during the latter half of last year, a marketing gambit that appears to be consistent with porn industry poor-mouthing -- earlier this month, porn moguls made a show of stated plans to ask the U.S. government for a $5 billion financial bailout to shore up sagging sales. Porn spam, however, only represents 9% of the spam out there.

About the Author(s)

Thomas Claburn

Editor at Large, Enterprise Mobility

Thomas Claburn has been writing about business and technology since 1996, for publications such as New Architect, PC Computing, InformationWeek, Salon, Wired, and Ziff Davis Smart Business. Before that, he worked in film and television, having earned a not particularly useful master's degree in film production. He wrote the original treatment for 3DO's Killing Time, a short story that appeared in On Spec, and the screenplay for an independent film called The Hanged Man, which he would later direct. He's the author of a science fiction novel, Reflecting Fires, and a sadly neglected blog, Lot 49. His iPhone game, Blocfall, is available through the iTunes App Store. His wife is a talented jazz singer; he does not sing, which is for the best.

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