The US has been named and shamed as the nation that hosted more
malicious code and relayed more spam than any other during
2006.
According to the Sophos Security Threat Report 2007, the US
internet industry remains plagued by criminal activity despite
continued efforts to clamp down on cyber-crime.
"Too many US-hosted websites still have lax security measures in
place," said Carole Theriault, senior security consultant at
Sophos.
"Given the effectiveness of web-based attacks, web hosting
companies in the US and elsewhere need to step up their policing of
published content, and ensure that malicious code is quickly
removed before innocent users get hit."
The UK ranked 19 in the chart, responsible for hosting 0.5 per cent
of all websites containing malicious code.
The US also topped the list of worst spam-relaying nations. While
the US has made good progress in this area, there was still more
spam sent from US computers in 2006 than from any other single
nation.
Sophos noted that up to 90 per cent of all spam is now relayed from
zombie computers hijacked by Trojan horses, worms and viruses and
under the control of hackers.
This means that they do not need to be based in the same country as
the computers being used to send the spam.
The report also found that the most prolific email threats during
2006 were the Mytob, Netsky, Sober and Zafi families of worms,
which together accounted for more than 75 per cent of all infected
email.
However, Sophos predicts that 2007 is likely to see a significant
shift away from the use of email, as cyber-criminals look to
exploit the continued
The US internet industry remains plagued by criminal
activity