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Recession sours increased phishing attacks

Phishing attacks now make more than half of online threats recorded, up from 33 per cent a month ago, new figures from managed security firm Network Box show.

According to research by the firm, the US remained the top source of viruses in March by accounting for 21.7 per cent of the threats in the world, a big leap from 13 and 15 per cent recorded at the start of the year.

Simon Heron, the online security firm's internet security analyst, says "prevention is much cheaper than cure" and organisations should review their security measures in light of the recession.

"A poor economy means greater numbers of disgruntled employees, desperate individuals trying to make money and increased opportunity as we become more technologically enabled," he said.

"Don't send out unencrypted financial information. Educate your employees not to fall victim to phishing scams. And have an acceptable usage policy in place across the company."

Last month the US also remained the top distributor of spam, followed by Australia and Brazil.

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