The crimeware scourge is menacing the Web at levels never before detected by the APWG, with crimeware-spreading websites nearly tripling in number in the 12 months before the end of Q2/2008 - and the number of recorded crimeware variants shattering all previous records.

The APWG reports this week that in Q2/2008 the number of crimeware-spreading URLs exploded to a record high of 9529 at quarter’s end – 258 percent higher than at the end of Q2/2007. Within the quarter, the number of malicious application variants hit a record high of 442 in May, up some 105 percent from May 2007.

During the same Q2 period, the APWG reported, the number of unique brand-domain pairs steadily decreased during the period of April through June, from 7,656 to 6,768. (The brand/domain pairs count the unique instances of a domain being used to target a specific brand.)

Q2 2008 Phishing Activity Trends Report Highlights

• Unique phishing attack reports submitted to APWG rose 13 percent during the quarter to 28,151 in June.
• Unique phishing websites reported to APWG in June to 21,703, decreased more than 11 percent from April.
• May presented a record high of 294 hijacked brands and the quarter’s 485 victimized brands is also a record high.
• The category of Other in the ‘Targeted Industry Segment’ measurement increased to 4 percent of the total due to attacks against social networking and national tax agencies.
• The number malicious application variants hit a record high of 442 in April.
• The number of crimeware-spreading URLs exploded to a record high of 9529 at quarter’s end – 258 percent higher than at the end in of Q2 2007.