Symantec report reveals malicious attacks focused toward trusted web sites New internet security threat report reveals details on hackers’ quest for private information

The latest Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), Volume XIII released 8 April 2008 by Symantec Corp. concludes that the web is now the primary conduit of attack activity, as opposed to network attacks, and that online users can increasingly be infected simply by visiting everyday web sites. The report is derived from data collected by millions of internet sensors, first-hand research and active monitoring of hacker communications and provides a global view of the state of internet security.

In the past, users had to visit intentionally malicious sites or click on malicious email attachments to become a victim of a security threat. Today, hackers are compromising legitimate web sites and using them as a distribution medium to attack home and enterprise computers. Symantec noticed that attackers are particularly targeting sites that are likely to be trusted by end users, such as social networking sites.