Risk: Informational
Browser-based attacks are becoming more of a threat to corporate IT security.
A survey of nearly 900 organisations found that 36.8 percent were plagued by one or more browser-based attacks over the last six months. This figure is up from 25 percent in last year's survey by CompTIA, the Computing Technology Industry Association.
Typically browser-based attacks take place when a surfer visits a web site containing malicious code. Spam is a typical conduit for such attacks.
The result of such attacks may be as simple as a crashed browser; or as serious as the theft of personal information or the loss of confidential proprietary data.
Computer viruses and worm attacks, though still the biggest threat to IT security, are significantly less common than they were a year ago, according to the CompTIA survey. The number of organisations identifying viruses as their most common security threat dropped from 80 percent last year to 68.6 percent this year.
Network intrusion problems also dropped (from 65.1 percent last year to 39.9 percent this year). Organisations also reported significant declines in problems caused by remote access, such as virtual private networks and dial-up (41.7 percent, down from 49.9 percent); and social engineering (17.9 percent, down from 21.9 percent).
Earlier findings from the CompTIA pointed the finger at human error for the majority of security problems.
The CompTIA survey also looked at the use of security technologies and services. The vast majority of organisations use some form of anti-virus protection. 9 in 10 of shops use firewalls. Security audits and penetration testing were also used by the majority of IT pros surveyed.