Cyber-crime on the rise with 100 attacks a second worldwide

Cyber-crime is on the increase, with criminals attempting over 100 attacks every second worldwide, according to a new report.

The survey, carried out by security software manufacturer Symantec, shows that there has been a significant rise in malicious software - or malware - over the last year or so. The company claims to have come across 71 per cent more malware samples in 2009 than it did in the previous year.

Much of the problem, Symantec believes, is down to the easy availability of ready-made malware producing toolkits, allowing even the non-technical-minded criminal to turn his or her hand to cyber-crime. Malware kits enable users to create software which exploits known weaknesses in browsers or operating systems, or uses spam to trick people into visiting corrupted websites.

Meanwhile, attacks are becoming more sophisticated - gone are the days of the badly spelled email, heaving with grammatical errors, asking you to send your bank details to a Nigerian billionaire. Now cyber-criminals are using social networking sites to tailor their attacks, and phishing emails are becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from the real thing.

However, before you switch your computer off and vow never to go near it again, its worth considering that most attempted attacks fail, many people use the web every day and never experience a problem, and that Symantec, which makes money from security software, has no reason to down-play cyber-crime figures.  Using up-to-date browsers, operating systems and anti-virus software, changing passwords regularly and being wary of unsolicited emails will ensure that most users never experience any kind of cyber-crime.

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