Web Threat Traffic Soars in June as Criminals Target Online Communities

Fortinet® - a market-leading network security provider and worldwide leader of unified threat management (UTM) solutions – today announced that its June 2009 Threatscape Report showed significant growth in Web threat traffic, marked by increased volumes of malware, and the highest rate of phishing attacks to date. Overall threat activity jumped in June 2009, marking an all-time high.

"There were some very noteworthy trends that surfaced in the June report, such as the growing popularity of Web-borne malware, which we see driving the next generation of threats to online services," said Derek Manky, project manager, cyber security and threat research, Fortinet. “Hackers continue to attempt to drive mass traffic to their threats, utilising various tactics aided by large online communities, and as a result -- more than ever -- users should be wary about who and what they trust.”

Online gaming Trojan W32/OnlineGames.BBR!tr was the most active malware threat, while Zbot variants increasingly dramatically to take second and third positions. W32/Zbot.M and W32/Zbot.V spread keylogging and data siphoning Trojans using fake eCard emails, and by directing users to malicious sites. Another fast growing threat is JS/PackRedir.A, which redirects website visitors to sites containing malicious content in PDF and SWF files. The resilient Netsky was bumped out of the malware Top 10 list.

The country receiving the highest volume of malware traffic in June 2009 was the USA, followed by Singapore, Japan, Korea, and Spain. Globally, phishing attacks made up 10% of threat traffic volume, with phishing threats exceeding 1000% traffic growth since Feb 2009.

Spam levels were unchanged in June 2009, despite efforts to take down the alleged spam-centric network 3FN/Pricewert.  Many spam campaigns remained aggressive, including the Canadian Pharmacy gang which mirrored the efforts of Zbot with a fake eCard hook.

Out of 108 newly reported computer vulnerabilities in June 2009, 62 were reported to be actively exploited. This shows that criminal gangs are aggressively attempting to exploit newly discovered vulnerabilities before they can be patched.

The FortiGuard research team compiled threat statistics and trends for June based on data collected from FortiGate® network security appliances and intelligence systems in production worldwide. Customers who use Fortinet's FortiGuard Subscription Services should already be protected against the threats outlined in this report.

To read the full June Threatscape report which includes the top threat rankings in each category, please visit: http://www.fortiguardcenter.com/report/roundup_june_2009.html. For ongoing threat research, bookmark the FortiGuard Center (http://www.fortiguardcenter.com/) or add it to your RSS feed by going to http://www.fortinet.com/FortiGuardCenter/rss/index.html.

Additional discussion on security technologies and threat analysis can be found at the FortiGuard Blog at http://blog.fortinet.com. To learn more about FortiGuard Subscription Services, visit http://www.fortinet.com/products/fortiguard.html.

FortiGuard Subscription Services offer broad security solutions including antivirus, intrusion prevention, Web content filtering and anti-spam capabilities. These services help enable protection against threats on both application and network layers. FortiGuard Services are updated by the FortiGuard Global Security Research Team, which enables Fortinet to deliver a combination of multi-layered security intelligence and zero-day protection from new and emerging threats. For customers with a subscription to FortiGuard, these updates are delivered to all FortiGate, FortiMail™ and FortiClient™ products.

About Fortinet (www.fortinet.com)

Fortinet is the pioneer and leading provider of ASIC-accelerated unified threat management, or UTM, security systems, which are used by enterprises and service providers to increase their security while reducing total operating costs. Fortinet solutions were built from the ground up to integrate multiple levels of security protection--including firewall, antivirus, intrusion prevention, VPN, spyware prevention and antispam -- designed to help customers protect against network and content level threats. Leveraging a custom ASIC and unified interface, Fortinet solutions offer advanced security functionality that scales from remote office to chassis-based solutions with integrated management and reporting. Fortinet solutions have won multiple awards around the world and are the only security products that are certified in six programs by ICSA Labs: Firewall, Antivirus, IPSec VPN, SSL VPN, Network IPS, and Antispam. Fortinet is privately held and based in Sunnyvale, California.

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