New research from one of the world?s leading internet content security companies, Trend Micro, suggested that the advance of Web technology has exponentially increased the range of potential threats to business security. According to data collected by Trend Micro, infection volumes nearly quadrupled between September and November last year. Online commerce sites, such as auction site eBay, and financial institutions in particular attracted a high volume of so-called ?Phishing? attacks, where criminals attempt to steal proprietary and financial information. Raimund Genes, chief technology officer of Anti-Malware at Trend Micro, outlined the findings of the Trend Micro Threat Report and 2008 Forecast at the IDC CIO Summit held on Monday at the Grand Hyatt, Dubai. ?One of the major challenges that is emerging is that high-profile websites - including social networking sites, banking sites, search engines and blogs - are growing as sought-after attack vectors for criminals looking to take information for the purposes of financial gain and commit identity theft,? said Genes. ?An additional challenge is that the number of compromised legitimate sites, which have been breached by hackers, is beginning to outnumber the range of malicious sites specifically-created by criminals. Moving forward, companies in the Middle East will need to ensure that the public face of their website is fully protected, both for their own security and for the protection of the public,? said Justin Doo, managing director, Trend Micro, Middle East. Unmanaged devices, such as smart phones and mp3 players are increasingly being used to infiltrate companies? security borders. __
