Viruses/Worms News

SQL attacks mushroom against company websites

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

A huge jump in the number of SQL attacks at the end of 2008 has security experts warning that popular web applications are being left unprotected.

SQL attacks are typically designed to steal customer data from user-facing e-commerce websites. But last June cybercriminals launched a new way to automate attacks and use them to plant infections on PCs, security experts said.

One major network security firm with large corporate clients said it identified 25,000 daily SQL attacks last summer, but by October the number of attacks was reaching 450,000 a day.

The SQL attacks are targeted at security flaws in web applications such as video, music, photos and other popular files for sharing among users.

For the first five months of 2008, the security company helped clients defend about 5,000 SQL attacks a day. Last June, the number of attacks had risen five-fold and then again exponentially more by October.

Another security firm found 780,000 malicious web pages last April from a single SQL injection attack. Experts said 2008 saw a more than 300 percent rise in malicious attacks.
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