Most Computer Attacks Originate In U.S.

Mar 19, 2007 4:48 PM

           

According to a new report, the United States generates more malicious computer activity than any other country, and sophisticated hackers around the world are working in highly efficient crime rings, according to the Associated Press.

Researchers at Cupertino, Calif.-based Symantec Corp. found that about a third of all computer attacks worldwide in the second half of 2006 originated from machines in the United States. That makes the United States the most fertile breeding ground for threats such as spam, phishing and malicious code, surpassing runners-up China, which generates 10 percent of attacks, and Germany, which generates 7 percent.

The United States also leads in "bot network activity." Bots are compromised computers controlled remotely and operating in concert to pump out spam or perform other nefarious acts.

The legitimate owner of the computer typically doesn't know the machine has been taken over -- and the phenomenon is largely responsible for the palpable increase in junk e-mail in the past half year.

Spam made up 59 percent of all e-mail traffic Symantec monitored, up 5 percent from the previous period. Much of the spam was related to stock picks and other financial scams.

According to the report, the United States is also home to more than half of the world's "underground economy servers," which are corporate computers that have been commandeered to facilitate clandestine transactions involving stolen data. They may be compromised for as little as two hours or as long as two weeks.

The study marks the first time Symantec researchers have examined the national origins of computer attacks. The report focuses on attacks during the last half of 2006 on more than 120 million computers running Symantec antivirus software. The company operates more than 2 million decoy e-mail accounts designed to attract messages from around the world to identify spam and phishing activity.

Alfred Huger, vice president of Symantec Security Response, says online criminals appear to be adopting more sophisticated means of "self-policing." They're launching denial-of-service attacks on rivals' servers and posting pictures of competitors' faces online.

"It's ruthless, highly organized and highly evolved," Huger says.

For more information on Symantec's semi-annual Internet Security Threat Report and its findings, visit www.symantec.com/about/news/release/article.jsp?prid=20070319_01

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© 2008 Penton Media Inc.

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