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RSS malware plague predicted for 2006 |
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Source: SC Magazine - Posted by Pax Dickinson
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The fast growing popularity of RSS (really simple syndication) means that the technology will pose increasingly significant problems for IT security professionals this year, new research has warned.
ScanSafe's latest web security report notes an explosive growth in the use of RSS feeds to pull updated content via HTTP and XML rather than having it being pushed to them by SMTP.
"With this trend expected to increase in 2006, malicious code writers are expected to take advantage by hijacking existing feed clients, causing automatic downloads of new worms and other web threats," the report warned.
According to figures taken from the study, there was a 265-percent increase in the volume of spyware and adware during the second half of 2005, compared with the same period in 2004. The report also notes there was a 165-percent increase in new web viruses in 2005 compared to 2004.
In addition the research indicates that web browser vulnerabilities are proliferating as attackers focus on the web as an area of network vulnerability. Protection of the web by companies was found to be weaker relative to email, network and desktop security. Areas of concern highlighted by ScanSafe are: the emergence of vulnerabilities in Microsoft Internet Explorer, the administrative struggle to update patches in browser software and advent of "zero day" exploits.
Read this full article at SC Magazine
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