iTnews
  • Home
  • News
  • Technology
  • Security

Virus levels soar in August

By Clement James on Sep 5, 2006 9:54AM
Virus levels soar in August

Percentage of phishing emails increases dramatically.

Antivirus firm SoftScan said this week that spam now accounts for 87.72 per cent of all email, and that virus levels have doubled over the past month.

But at 1.02 percent, viruses still only account for a tiny proportion of the total email scanned during August.

However, antivirus experts at SoftScan said that 89.5 per cent of all viruses scanned were classified as phishing malware.

The percentage of phishing emails has increased dramatically in the past few months, the firm warned.

But SoftScan believes this is a result of improved or additional detection by antivirus scanners, rather than any real increase in the number of phishing emails distributed.

Diego d'Ambra, chief technical officer at SoftScan, said: "We have seen several minor outbreaks of Worm.Stration variants during August, but nothing major and virus activity generally continues to follow the trend of remaining low key.

"Recent enhancements and developments by the antivirus industry to their scanners has meant an increase in detecting phishing emails as malware, as opposed to spam.

"This gives the impression that phishing has risen significantly, but is really due to the reclassification from spam to malware."

While spam remains very high at present, this is expected to reduce by a few percent over the coming days as the summer holiday season comes to a close.

The increase in legitimate business email will then push the percentage back down to its more regular level of 85 percent, the company said.
Got a news tip for our journalists? Share it with us anonymously here.
Copyright ©v3.co.uk
Tags:
augustinlevelssecuritysoarvirus

Partner Content

The Great Resignation has intensified insider security threats
Promoted Content The Great Resignation has intensified insider security threats
Why Genworth Australia embraced low-code software development
Promoted Content Why Genworth Australia embraced low-code software development
Avoiding CAPEX by making on-premise IT more cloud-like
Promoted Content Avoiding CAPEX by making on-premise IT more cloud-like
Digital signatures propel Australian Unity with rapid time to value
Digital signatures propel Australian Unity with rapid time to value

Sponsored Whitepapers

Free eBook: Digital Transformation 101 – for banks
Free eBook: Digital Transformation 101 – for banks
Why financial services need to tackle their Middle Office
Why financial services need to tackle their Middle Office
Learn: The latest way to transfer files between customers
Learn: The latest way to transfer files between customers
Extracting the value of data using Unified Observability
Extracting the value of data using Unified Observability
Planning before the breach: You can’t protect what you can’t see
Planning before the breach: You can’t protect what you can’t see

Events

  • Forrester Technology & Innovation Asia Pacific 2022
By Clement James
Sep 5 2006
9:54AM
0 Comments

Related Articles

  • Romanian man extradited to US over 2007 virus that hit NASA
  • Digital signatures propel Australian Unity with rapid time to value
  • Realtek SDK exposes systems to SIP bug
  • Palo Alto Networks alerted to DoS vulnerability in routers
Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Email A Friend

Most Read Articles

NSW Police dumps Bezos-backed Mark43 from core systems overhaul

NSW Police dumps Bezos-backed Mark43 from core systems overhaul

Australian court finds insurer not liable for ransomware clean-up costs

Australian court finds insurer not liable for ransomware clean-up costs

NBN Co proposes to axe CVC across all plans by mid-2026

NBN Co proposes to axe CVC across all plans by mid-2026

Wesfarmers to stand up offensive cyber security capabilities

Wesfarmers to stand up offensive cyber security capabilities

Digital Nation

Australia will lose 11 percent of jobs to automation by 2040: Forrester
Australia will lose 11 percent of jobs to automation by 2040: Forrester
Criteo to fork out $94.7m for consent breaches
Criteo to fork out $94.7m for consent breaches
Metaverses on the agenda for Dominello, Husic ministerial meeting
Metaverses on the agenda for Dominello, Husic ministerial meeting
COVER STORY: How KPMG, Mirvac and ASX use blockchain to build trust in the property sector
COVER STORY: How KPMG, Mirvac and ASX use blockchain to build trust in the property sector
Domino’s invests in observability for zero contact delivery
Domino’s invests in observability for zero contact delivery
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in any form without prior authorisation.
Your use of this website constitutes acceptance of nextmedia's Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.