The Internet saw a massive volume of more than 286 million new threats last year, with social network websites and mobile devices increasingly targeted for attacks, according to a new survey by security software company Symantec.
The report found 286 million different types of malware that were responsible for more than 3 billion total attacks in 2010 on computer users.
"The major mobile platforms are finally becoming ubiquitous enough to garner the attention of attackers," Symantec Corp. said in the latest
volume of its Internet Security Threat Report.
The Symantec report indicated that cyber crooks were also infiltrating news-feed capabilities at popular social networking services to "mass-distribute" attacks.
Such tactics typically involve getting into one person's account at a social network and then sending others links to websites booby-trapped
with malicious computer code.
"Social network platforms continue to grow in popularity and this popularity has, not surprisingly, attracted a large volume of
malware," Symantec said.
The Symantec report also highlighted dramatic increases in both the frequency and sophistication of targeted attacks on enterprises, and a
change in attackers' infection tactics, increasingly targeting vulnerabilities in Java to break into traditional computer systems.