Australian spam levels are higher than the global average of 88.1%, with virus activity also doubling during October, according to the latest Symantec MessageLabs Intelligence report.
The report claims about one in every 277.5 emails received by Australians during October contained a virus, compared to one in every 626.5 during September.
Phishing activity, whereby hackers try to lure individuals into giving up confidential data such as bank account numbers and PINs, is also on the increase.
“Interception of IRS phishing emails peaked on October 10 accounting for 67% of all phishing emails in a 24-hour period while HMRC phishing emails, peaking on October 13, accounted for 81% of all phishing interceptions that day, one of the largest ever HMRC phishing runs,” MessageLabs Intelligence senior analyst Paul Wood told ITWire.com.au.
Additionally he said that “when it comes to phishing runs, we have seen a significant shift in the bad guys’ approach. Not only are they experimenting with different languages, they are also turning their attention to targeting online services like web-based email in addition to the financial sector.”
This, he said, “is likely due to the widespread use of email addresses used to authenticate other sites such as social networking, retailing and auction sites”.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
