MessageLabs flags February threat trends

Security software vendor MessageLabs has released its monthly report on the latest threat trends on the Internet.

In the areas of anti-spam the company found that during February the global ratio of spam in email traffic from new and unknown bad sources was 60.6 percent, a drop of six percent on January.

On the anti-virus and Trojan Protection fronts the global ratio of email-borne viruses in email traffic from new and previously unknown bad sources 2.3 percent, a decrease of 0.1 percent on January.

Phishing attacks saw a marginal increase of 0.05 percent with one in every 334.9 emails being a phishing attempt.

MessageLabs also analysed the vulnerability rates of different verticals to spam and viruses.

The company found that the recreation industry was the most susceptible to spam scoring a 69.4 percent rating, while accommodation/catering scored 36.9 percent.

On the virus front, business support services were the most vulnerable with one in every 7.6 organisations being affected, while telecoms was the lowest with only one in very 132.2 being affected.

Geographically, India was worst hit by spam with an impact and vulnerability rates 91.00 percent. Japan scored 23.5 percent.

Virus-wise, the United Arab Emirates had one in every 13.9 organisations and Sweden had one in every 75.1 affected.