BOSTON -- Sophos, a world leader in IT security and control, has announced the results of its research into worldwide cybercrime activity during the first three months of 2007. The findings reveal that the overall number of new pieces of malware has grown dramatically, with the majority of malicious code writers selecting the web as its playground of choice.

Q1 2007 at a glance:

In the first quarter of 2007, Sophos identified 23,864 new threats - more than double the number found in the same period last year when the company identified 9,450. At the same time, the percentage of infected email has dropped from 1.3 percent or one in 77 emails in the first three months of 2006, to just 0.4 percent or one in 256 emails in 2007.

Infected Websites Pose Greatest Threat

From January to the end of March, Sophos identified an average of 5,000 new infected web pages daily, indicating that this route to infection is becoming more popular with cybercriminals. With computer users becoming increasingly aware of how to protect against email-aware viruses and malware, hackers have turned to the web as their preferred vector of attack.

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