Cybercrime

Since the first worm was created in 1979, cybercrime has continued to threaten the integrity, confidentiality and availability of computer data.

The 2010 report by Microsoft on online security shows not only that the number of attacks is increasing but that the techniques are being more sophisticated and complex every year and especially that the range of victims is broadening. The trend towards an explosion in the number of viruses continues, then, and is accelerating. Between 2007 and 2008, the increase in the number of new malicious software was approximately 165% with a total of close to 1.7 million new malware codes for 2008 alone.                       In 2009, Symantec blocked an average of 100 potential attacks per second.

About 10% of computers in the world are already infected with viruses or Trojan horses usually without theirowners’ knowledge.

Technologies, browsers and operating systems are not excluded: the attacks on Java have multiplied 14-fold in the space of six months as the capacity of web browsers to respond to new vulnerabilities is increasingly being put to the test and the rate of contamination of Windows XP has reached nearly 20%.

Finally, given that 77% of French Internet users are on at least one social network, it is not surprising that online social networks have become the preferred playground of cybercriminals: 57% of users say they are now victims of spam and 36% have already suffered an attack by computer worms, viruses or other malicious software. These figures are particularly worrying as almost 50% of companies do not impose any limits on the use of Facebook, Twitter or others.