Hackers target 30,000 SME websites per day to spread malware

Small business websites have overtaken porn and gambling sites as cyber criminals’ malware distribution tools of choice, according to Sophos director of technology James Lyne, who said the lack of skilled professionals to tackle this issue is leaving the UK wide open to attack.

Lyne (pictured left) told V3 the number of hijacked SMB sites being unwillingly used by criminals to spread malware has risen exponentially in 2013. “Interestingly, we’re seeing about 30,000 new infected websites per day,” he said.

“What’s interesting about those web-based infections is that over 80 percent of them are actually small businesses – not porn sites, not gambling sites or any of the scarier types – but legitimate small businesses’ websites that have been hacked.”

SOURCE: v3.co.uk