Bots and Bugs Cause Headaches for 2006

Online fraudsters, big-time spammers and computer intruders had little problem finding security holes to exploit in 2006. Whether the openings came from user ignorance or poor judgment, a software maker's error or misconfiguration, the profiteers of the Internet had a banner year turning the security mistakes of others into money. Signs of the trend are obvious. The number of phishing sites used by online fraudsters jumped more than eight-fold year over year, according to the Antiphishing Working Group. The number of denial-of-service attacks doubled between January and June, according to Symantec, the owner of SecurityFocus. And, mail service provider MessageLabs intercepted, on average, one targeted Trojan horse attack every day in 2006, up from one a week in 2005.