Singapore No. 2 'black hat' target

Singapore has been highlighted as one of the world's leading targets for black hat Web security attacks, in a new research by network security provider Fortinet.

The unified threat management solutions provider has released its June 2009 Threatscape Report, which found that Singapore was ranked the second highest in the world's top five regions, after the United States, based on detected Web security exploit attempts.

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This new research has found significant growth in Web threat traffic, marked by increased volumes of malware and the highest rate of phishing attacks to date.

On par with the May Threatscape Report, Fortinet said threat rates during June continued to climb. Out of 108 newly reported vulnerabilities, 62 were reported to be actively exploited, indicating an all-time high of 57.4 per cent of active exploits. The highest amount of overall exploit activity came out of the US (22.2 per cent).

Next-generation malware

"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."

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