Scareware on the Internet grows to tremendous levels

 According to the figures provided by Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) the number of scareware packages increased to tremendous values. The report says that in the first half of 2009 alone 485,000 different samples were detected. It is more than five fold of the combined figure for the whole of 2008.

The group says that the high figures are explained by the hacker practice of changing the checksum of every file. The tactic is designed to foil less sophisticated anti-malware defences.

The report also unveiled the figures on the phishing attacks. APWG says that the volume of phishing reports reached 37,165 in May, about 7% increase above the previous year’s high of 34,758 in October. Among principles targets of phishing attacks were such sites as PayPal. The report shows that Sweden outstripped the United States as the country hosting the highest number of phishing fraud websites.