Latest data collated by email security service provider MessageLabs has revealed that around 85% of the website domains that it blocks for hosting malicious content are well-established and legitimate sites that have been in some way compromised.
Data taken from the week of 5th May, shows that only 10% of sites blocked are less than a month old while just 3% are screened sites are less than a week old.
Explaining the phenomenon, Paul Wood, MessageLabs Intelligence Senior Analyst at Symantec, said “It is highly likely that sites that are a year old are legitimate sites while those that are only a week old or less are likely to be temporary sites set up with the sole purpose of distributing malware.”
The notion that most web-based malware sits on fly-by-night websites touting adult content is no longer true.
The company cautions that security managers need understand that even sites they know and trust can be compromised through attacks such as SQL injection attacks and need take necessary precautions to block all the latest malicious sites.
