November 2, 2004 1:16 PM PST

IE exploit is top of the hacks

A Microsoft Internet Explorer exploit represented the highest number of hacking attacks in the second quarter, according to figures from ScanSafe.

The London-based security company said that the No. 1 hack was Exploit.HTML.Mht, which attempts to download and install a malicious program on a computer by using a security breach in Microsoft's IE browser software. The exploit was used to target almost twice as many organizations as other exploits, ScanSafe said.

"One of the things we've been surprised at is the growth rate of threats," said Roy Tuvey, director of ScanSafe. "There's been a 15 percent rise every quarter, and the threat is really rising. The first thing exploited are browser vulnerabilities."

Twenty-one percent of virus attacks occurred on Wednesdays and 6 percent at the weekend, ScanSafe found. The managed Web security company said the reason was that most viruses were launched at weekends and spread during the week.

Researchers at ScanSafe said that while Trojan horses and worms posed a significant threat, exploits accounted for 19 percent of all attacks they saw. But spyware only made up 12 percent of the total.

The company also found that 10 percent of attacks occurred on e-mail Web sites.

Dan Ilett of ZDNet UK reported from London.

18 comments

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I read the first paragraph and stopped.
Well DUH.
When 90% of the computers run IE, what exploit do you think will be hit the most? There is just no intelligent angle to these articles.
Posted by David Arbogast (1712 comments )
Reply Link Flag
Read further Daivd....
The article is about web threats, not merely exploits.

Yes IE does account for 90% of browsers etc etc, but what the article is saying is the browser exploits (across the board) are becoming the favoured method of attack, rather than traditional worms/trojans.

I would always advise reading more than just the first paragraph.

Regards
Posted by (4 comments )
Link Flag
I read the first paragraph and stopped.
Well DUH.
When 90% of the computers run IE, what exploit do you think will be hit the most? There is just no intelligent angle to these articles.
Posted by David Arbogast (1712 comments )
Reply Link Flag
Read further Daivd....
The article is about web threats, not merely exploits.

Yes IE does account for 90% of browsers etc etc, but what the article is saying is the browser exploits (across the board) are becoming the favoured method of attack, rather than traditional worms/trojans.

I would always advise reading more than just the first paragraph.

Regards
Posted by (4 comments )
Link Flag
Article Unclear
"The company also found that 10 percent of attacks occurred on e-mail Web sites."

Wha? Can the author of this story define exactly what is an "e-mail web site?" Thanks!
Posted by 201293546946733175101343322673 (722 comments )
Reply Link Flag
???
Email web sites are websites you use to access your email. Can't put it much clearer...

You could use some examples as hotmail, ..., but some people would attack this as bias.
Posted by Steven N (423 comments )
Link Flag
...and pointless.
The most popular browser gets targeted the most.

The most popular means of connecting to an outside network gets target the most.

This is news... how?
Posted by David Arbogast (1712 comments )
Link Flag
Article Unclear
"The company also found that 10 percent of attacks occurred on e-mail Web sites."

Wha? Can the author of this story define exactly what is an "e-mail web site?" Thanks!
Posted by 201293546946733175101343322673 (722 comments )
Reply Link Flag
???
Email web sites are websites you use to access your email. Can't put it much clearer...

You could use some examples as hotmail, ..., but some people would attack this as bias.
Posted by Steven N (423 comments )
Link Flag
...and pointless.
The most popular browser gets targeted the most.

The most popular means of connecting to an outside network gets target the most.

This is news... how?
Posted by David Arbogast (1712 comments )
Link Flag
MS programs are the easiest to hack
That is the real reason that they get hacked more then others. Look at web based server, most are not IE, yet they don't get attacked all that often. The reason is that they are far superior to MS garbage.

It takes no skill to hack into a windows based system. Other systems require much more computer knowlege.
Posted by (243 comments )
Reply Link Flag
MS programs are the easiest to hack
That is the real reason that they get hacked more then others. Look at web based server, most are not IE, yet they don't get attacked all that often. The reason is that they are far superior to MS garbage.

It takes no skill to hack into a windows based system. Other systems require much more computer knowlege.
Posted by (243 comments )
Reply Link Flag
MS programs are the easiest to hack
That is the real reason that they get hacked more then others. Look at web based server, most are not IE, yet they don't get attacked all that often. The reason is that they are far superior to MS garbage.

It takes no skill to hack into a windows based system. Other systems require much more computer knowlege.
Posted by (243 comments )
Reply Link Flag
MS programs are the easiest to hack
That is the real reason that they get hacked more then others. Look at web based server, most are not IE, yet they don't get attacked all that often. The reason is that they are far superior to MS garbage.

It takes no skill to hack into a windows based system. Other systems require much more computer knowlege.
Posted by (243 comments )
Reply Link Flag
 

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