Hackers Responsible for 57,000 Malicious Websites Every Week

Posted 09/13/2010 at 6:40am | by Paul Lilly

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The next time someone tells you antivirus software is a waste of time, money, and resources, keep this in mind. According to PandLabs, every day hackers put up another 57,000 fraudulent website designed to trick users into handing over thier personal information, such as bank login credentials and other tidbits you don't want falling into the wrong hands.

One way around this is to surf with common sense, but with or without antivirus software, you can ill afford to let your guard down.

"The problem is that when you visit a website through search engines, it can be difficult for users to know whether it is genuine or not," Panda says. "For this reason, and given the proliferation of this technique, it is advisable to go to banking sites or online stores by typing in the address in the browser rather than using search engines which, although they are making an effort to mitigate the situation by changing indexing algorithms, cannot fully evade the great avalanche of new Web addresses being created by hackers every day."

According to Panda, the 10 most targeted brands among all fake websites include:

1. eBay - 23.21 percent
2. Western Union - 21.15 percent
3. Visa - 9.51 percent
4. United Services Automobile Association - 6.85 percent
5. HSBC - 5.98 percent
6. Amazon - 2.42 percent
7. Bank of America - 2.29 percent
8. PayPal - 1.77 percent
9. Internal Revenue Service - 1.69 percent
10. Bendigo Bank - 1.38 percent

All told, bank and transaction companies account for around 65 percent of the fake sites.