 Computerworld is New Zealand's only specialised information systems fortnightly.
Subscribe now for $97.50 (24 issues) and save more than 37% off the cover price!
 Get the latest news from Computerworld delivered via email.
Sign up now
 Subscribe to Computerworld's
RSS newsfeed here and get news stories as they break.
The volume of security attacks per 100,000 internet users apparently from New Zealand sources fell in the first six months of this year, according to Symantec’s six-monthly Internet Security Threat Report. New Zealand is continuing to show a dramatic fall in its ranking as a security-threat culprit, as other countries, including Australia, rise to prominence.
The rate of attacks apparently from New Zealand — and Symantec emphasises that the apparent source is only the last address in what may be a chain of machines transmitting the attack — declined from 2010 per 100,000 users in June–Dec 2003 to 1531 in January–June 2004. This took New Zealand from 32nd-ranked attack source to 70th. In the first half of 2003, New Zealand ranked fifth, on generally far smaller volumes of attack.
Australia, on a constantly rising volume, now stands fourth, up from 10th in the previous survey and 57th in the one before that.
Prominent new entrants to the attack-source lists include Latvia and Israel. The US continues to lead, with China rising from third to second, but old culprit South Korea has fallen, possibly owing to government campaigns on computer security and the country’s increasing interest in applying the US government-devised Common Criteria for ICT security evaluation, says Tim Hartman, Symantec Asia–Pacific’s senior technical director.
Symantec has seen a notable rise in the number of attacks coming from remotely controlled “bot” networks of already compromised systems. The proportion of attacks on web applications also increased; some of these applications have significant vulnerabilities. Where attacks were targeted to a specific system, e-commerce was the most targeted industry sector, Symantec reports.
The lead-time between the public disclosure of a vulnerability and the arrival of an exploit using it continues to decrease and now stands at 5.8 days on average.
However, overall, the daily volume of attacks is decreasing, with a decline in worm activity being the most noticeable factor.
|
