CYBER THREATS have evolved to silently steal data for profit without alerting even the most vigilant user, according to a semi-annual internet security threat report released by security provider Symantec last month.
The company collects data of internet threat activities every six months from its 120 million clients in 180 countries, and the servers and gateways that have installed Symantec's anti-virus products.
The latest version of the report, covering the period from last July to December, reported that among the top malicious code samples,
80 per cent could reveal confidential information compared with 74 per cent in the first half of last year. This meant more crimeware and software tools were built with the purpose of committing online scams and stealing information.
'[Attackers] are focusing their efforts on regional targets, desktops and Web applications that may allow an attacker to capture personal, financial and confidential information. This information could then be used in cyber crime activities for financial gain,' the report said.
Earlier internet threats such as worms and blended threats launched noisy and indiscriminate attacks. The new generation cyber threats were silent, difficult to detect and highly targeted, the report said.
Bot networks are increasingly used among the tools built for committing cyber crime. Bots are programs that are installed on a user's machine to interact on the internet. When unauthorised attackers install bots in a computer they can control the bot-infected machine remotely. Attacks often build a network of bot-infected machines and launch co-ordinated attacks.