More trustworthy sites being infected by malware

Malicious code

The majority of websites infected with malicious code aren't dodgy sites themselves but ones that have been compromised, according to a new report.

Websense Security Labs has released its bi-annual research report which showed that 71 per cent of sites with malware fell into this category in the second half of 2009.

In addition to cyber criminals luring people into normally trusted sites, the report found an increased amount of searches for the latest news or current buzzwords leading to malware, with 13.7 per cent in total.

Websense chief technology officer, Dan Hubbard, said in a statement: "Malicious hackers are really focusing their efforts to ensure they're driving their victims straight to them."

He added: "By poisoning search results and focusing on Web 2.0 sites, their efforts are often more efficient and effective."

Other findings from the report showed a massive 95 per cent of user generated comments of blogs, forums and chatrooms were malicious or simply spam in the last six months and over 85 per cent of all emails were spam.

Hubbard concluded: "The blended nature of today's threats combined with compromised legitimate sites, takes full advantage of an increased perception of trust when using search engines and interacting with friends or acquaintances online."

Jennifer Scott

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.