July web security, spam, viruses and phishing highlights

Web security: Analysis of Web security activity shows that 83.4 percent of all web-based malware intercepted was new in July. MessageLabs also identified an average of 3,968 new websites per day harboring malware and other potentially unwanted programs such as spyware and adware, an increase of 91 percent since June.

Spam: In July 2008, the global ratio of spam in email traffic from new and previously unknown bad sources was 75.1 percent (1 in 1.33 emails), a decrease of 1.4 percent since June.

Viruses: The global ratio of email-borne viruses in email traffic from new and previously unknown bad sources was one in 148.2 emails (.67 percent), a decrease of 0.07 percent since June. In July, 3 percent of email-borne malware contained links to malicious sites, a decrease of 17.3 percent since June.

Phishing: In July, phishing activity rose by .19 percent compared with the previous month. One in 180.6 (.55 percent) emails comprised some form of phishing attack. When judged as a proportion of all email-borne threats such as viruses and Trojans, the number of phishing emails has increased by 33.8 percent to 82.1 percent of all email-borne malware threats intercepted in July.

Source: July 2008 MessageLabs Intelligence Report.