The MessageLabs Intelligence Annual Security Report: 2009 Security Year in Review

Posted on behalf of Paul Wood, MessageLabs Intelligence Senior Analyst, Symantec Hosted Services
A few weeks ago, when Symantec announced our 2010 Predictions, I stated in my accompanying blog post that what we’ve seen this year was ugly (highlight with link to post). As I’ve worked with my team to draft the MessageLabs Intelligence Annual Security Report, I now realize that was an understatement. What we’ve  seen this year is in fact horrendous. But nevertheless, it keeps us on our toes as we scan billions of messages and web connections each week.
While we’re always prepared for the worst, we can only anticipate what that may be. Looking back on it all in aggregation, is always a stern reminder that the bad guys are capable of more than we often give them credit for.
In 2009, we stopped more than 21 million different types of spam campaigns in 2009, more than twice the amount seen in 2008, and saw a 23 percent increase in malware variants year-on-year. Such massive increases suggest that the increased availability of specialized criminal toolkits have made it easier to create, distribute and use spam and malware than ever before.
And now for the Security Year in Review:
Top Trends in 2009
Web Security: For 2009, the average number of new malicious websites blocked each day rose to 2,465 compared to 2,290 for 2008, an increase (continue reading...)