SYMANTEC'S MID-YEAR INTELLIGENCE REPORT

NOT QUITE MID-YEAR, BUT IT'S ALL I HAVE





I caught a link to the "Symantec May/June Intelligence" white paper and thought I'd read it here and there when I had time and then let you know if there were any HUGE threats in cyberspace. It starts off with a summary by Ben Nahorney who said mobile (cell phone) threats weren't as bad this year as they were at the same type last year, and the Spam rate had dropped to 67% (from 71.9% in the first quarter of this year). I feel like I'm writing about employment vs. unemployment percentages for some reason, but let's continue past the summary.

This is where the numbers get a bit scary: The number of identities (like yours or mine) exposed so far this year were 77,996,740, and that's a lot of people folks. Bot-zombie computers dropped from over 300 thousand to a mere 162 thousand in May.

Mobile malware variants (a variation of malware already out-and-about) dropped from 748 in March to 312 in May. It goes without saying [ed. - yet I'll say it] that the majority of these were Android based. And just to prove I really didn't know there was one, here is an excerpt:

May 24  "A highly respected media organization became the latest high
profile hacking victim of the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA). The
SEA has been targeting the websites and social media accounts
of well-regarded news organizations"

Regarding the number of identities breached, they had a simple chart that confirms that a picture (or chart) is worth a thousand words.

As well, another nifty chart regarding data breaches -

How many times have we heard of some big company or government employee losing a laptop?

I've been asked a lot about where the Malware comes from, but occasionally I'm asked about "SPAM". "Where does all of this stuff come from?" customers ask. See chart below.

I'll let those tired eyes of yours get back to a baseball stats to check on the Red Sox,

'Nuff Said
Brian