Trilight Zone

[digital8]

Web-based Hacking on Rise

As a new report shows web-based attacks are on the rise, Trend Micro acquires a web-filtering company.
June 15, 2005

Attempts by hackers to take advantage of a computer via the World Wide Web are increasing faster than reports of virus infections, according to a new study.

More than 56 percent of organizations surveyed reported web-based attacks during the last year, up from 37 percent the year before, according to the Computing Technology Industry Association, the industry advocacy group that conducted the survey.

Using web pages to infect computers running browsers such as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has become a recent hacker favorite. Earlier this month, even MSN.com fell victim to such an attack.

Hackers installed malicious code on the popular Korean version of the Microsoft web site. The code took advantage of users who surfed to the site and had not installed the most recent Microsoft updates (See New Clues in MSN Hack).

Microsoft released a patch Tuesday designed to prevent attackers from using Internet Explorer to gain control of a user’s computer. The weakness was a product of the way Microsoft handles its help files, according to eEye Digital Security, which alerted Microsoft to the problem three months ago.