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Hackers are intensifying their attacks on legitimate Web sites. It debunks the adage to “not visit questionable sites” – just because a user visits a gambling or adult-content site doesn’t necessarily mean Web threats are lurking in the shadows; the site with the latest sports news or links in a search engine result, however, could potentially infect visitors with malware.

An underground malware industry has carved itself a thriving market by exploiting the trust and confidence of Web users. The Russian Business Network, for example, was notorious all year for hosting illegal businesses including child pornography, phishing and malware distribution sites. This underground industry excludes no one. In 2007, Apple had to contend with the ZLOB gang, proving that even alternative operating systems are not safe havens for the online user. The Italian Gromozon, a malware disguised in the form of a rogue anti-spyware security application, also made its mark in 2007.

This past year, the NUWAR (Storm) botnet expanded in scope when Trend Micro researchers found proof that the Storm botnet is renting its services to host fly-by-night online pharmacies, dabble in stock pump-and-dump scams, and even portions of its backend botnet infrastructure. During 2007, the most popular communication protocol among botnet owners was still Internet Relay Chat possibly because software to create IRC bots is widely available and easily implemented and at the same time movement to encrypted P2P is being used and tested in the field.

Security threats are no longer limited to PCs. Mobile devices, as they become more sophisticated and powerful, are at risk for the same types of threats as PCs (viruses, spam, Trojans, malware, etc.) Gadgets with wireless capabilities such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, as well as storage capability have become major sources of data leaks, as well as carriers of infections through security perimeters.

Other notable findings from the report:

- The Windows Animated Cursor exploit (EXPL_ANICMOO) encompassed over 50 percent of all exploit codes to hit the Internet computing population. 74 percent of its infections this year came from Asia. The same holds true for TROJ_ANICMOO.AX, a related threat which embedded the exploit. 64 percent of computers infected with this were from China.

- The top malware finding was WORM_SPYBOT.IS and WORM_GAOBOT.DF. Both created botnets and worms that infected USB-connected devices.

- Nearly 50 percent of all threat infections come from North America, but Asian countries are also experiencing a growth — 40 percent of infections stem from that region.

-Social networking communities and user-created content such as blog sites became infection vectors due to attacks on their underlying Web 2.0 technologies, particularly cross-site scripting and streaming technologies.

- Infection volumes nearly quadrupled between September and November 2007, indicating that malware authors took advantage of the holiday seasons as an opportunity to send spam or deploy spyware while users are shopping online.

- In 2007, the number one online commerce site attacked by phishers was still global auction site eBay and sister company PayPal. Financial institutions, especially those based in North America, also experienced a high volume of phising attacks.

IT security and control firm Sophos is warning companies to abide by anti-spam laws following the arrest of a man suspected of sending over 2 billion unwanted commercial emails.

According to media reports, police in Tokyo, Japan, have arrested 25-year-old Yuki Shiina following a complaint last year by an internet service provider (ISP) that he was sending huge amount of spam emails advertising gambling and dating websites. Police believe that Shiina bought 600,000 email addresses off the internet for 100,000 yen (USD 927) and earned over 2 million yen (USD 18,540) through the spam campaign.

It is claimed that Shiina faked the sender information on the emails in an attempt to avoid detection, breaking Japanese laws.

“Spammers believe they can escape the long arm of the law by hiding on the internet, but increasingly the authorities are cracking down on this kind of net abuse. No-one who hears about a single person believed to have sent 2.2 billion spam emails can be in any doubt as to the scale of the problem, and it’s essential for the police to send out a clear message that they are serious about catching the criminals responsible,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. “Legitimate businesses need to make sure that they are abiding by the law, and be careful not to hire firms and third-party individuals to market their websites or goods via junk email.”

Last month, in a separate case, Sophos reported on the first arrest in Japan of a malware author. Kyoto police uncovered a plot to infect users of the P2P file-sharing network Winny with a Trojan horse that displayed images of popular anime characters while wiping music and movie files.