Phishing attempts and malware are two very serious threats to individuals, businesses and organizations that use computers to access the internet. One wrong click could put your computer network and/or your identity at risk by exposing sensitive data stored on your computer to shady operators that could be located half way around the world.
This means that everyone should be diligent about not handing information over to cybercriminals by way of downloading an infected file, clicking on a malicious website link or falling for a phishing ploy that opens up the floodgate for identity theft, or further propagating the infection by sending it to people that are stored on your contact list.
The Commtouch Software online lab found malware in 58% of sites classified in the general website category. This was followed by “Other Sites” at 14%; Personal sites with 12%; Business websites at 4%; Computers and technology at 3%. Other categories such as Search Engines and portals, Streaming media and downloads, healthcare and shopping websites were at 2% or lower.
Malware is a malicious code such as viruses, trojans, rootkits and spyware that infects your computer. Recent variants of malware being detected by Commtouch include W32/Yakes.G2.gen!Eldorado, Trojan.Win32.Yakes.jha, and Mal/Bredo-Q.
The general website category was also the top web category being manipulated by phishing, at 87%. This was followed by the finance category with 4%; Computers and technology at 2%; and Personal sites and others at 1%.
Phishing is a tactic that’s used to fool and lure people to click on a link or a file, or to divulge sensitive information by tricking them into thinking their action is required. In recent past, there have been numerous large scale phishing attempts, including fake Emails from the IRS that made claims regarding tax refunds and tax payments. Of course, the IRS took immediate measures to warn consumers of this scam.
Website Categories Manipulated By Phishing
Phishing attempts and malware are designed to infiltrate computer networks and cause general havoc for IT managers and business owners.
Luckily, there are Saas solutions that can be deployed to stop people on your computer network from accessing these websites using URL content filtering software, powered by Commtouch. Web content filtering scans websites that are being requested by your network remotely in a cloud environment. If a website that’s attempting to be accessed is found to contain viruses, trojans, rootkits or other malicious code, this remote software will block the site from being visited, removing the chance that it can infect your physical computer network.
This security solution requires no hardware or appliances in order to protect your computer network, and it can be further customized to manage internet website access within your organization. By setting internet access controls you can increase productivity among employees and reduce the risk of infecting your computer network.
Source: Commtouch Software Online Labs
