APWG Reports Crimeware Sites Up 40 Percent in June; Crimeware-Spreading Sites Surges to Record High.

LOS ALTOS, Calif. & CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) reported today that the number of crimeware-spreading sites surged to an all-time high in June with 2945 such sites detected by APWG researchers -- up 40 per cent from May and nearly 10 per cent higher than the previous record.

The APWG's "PROJECT: Crimeware" has been gathering data on the evolution and proliferation of malicious software purpose-built for criminal enterprise for over a year. While growth in the number of new, unique crimeware applications being created has moderated, the number of crimeware-spreading sites has continued to expand at an accelerating tempo.

"It makes you wonder what new levels of automation phishers may be achieving to get this kind of growth. While phishers still exploit email to dupe consumers, it is clear that the entire surface of the Web is increasingly being viewed by phishers as a useful attack vector as well," said APWG Secretary General Peter Cassidy.

The number of password-stealing applications detected in APWG research performed by Websense in the six months before June has run between 180 and 215. By contrast, in the six months before the June report, the number of crimeware-spreading URLs ranged from 1100 to nearly 2700.

"June saw the most password stealing malicious code URLs tracked to date," said Dan Hubbard, vice president of security for Websense, Inc. "We attribute this to the advancement of monetary gain that is being made by utilizing crimeware applications and websites. This is also attributed to the increased use of exploit kits being sold and bought on the Internet. The kits allow non-technical criminals to infect websites with malicious exploit code with the intent of running it upon users visiting a website."

The full report is available at: http://www.antiphishing.org/reports/apwg_report_june_2006.pdf

About the Anti-Phishing Working Group

The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) is an industry association focused on eliminating the identity theft and fraud that result from the growing problem of phishing, email spoofing and crimeware. Membership is open to qualified financial institutions, online retailers, ISPs, the law enforcement community and solutions providers. There are more than 1,500 companies and government agencies participating in the APWG and more than 2,500 members. The APWG's web site (http://www.antiphishing.org) offers the public and industry information about phishing and email fraud, including identification and promotion of pragmatic technical solutions that provide immediate protection.