Less malware, but more phishing
Malware cases decreased by 33% in 2014, but an increase in phishing activity was noted.
More fraud, but less malicious code on Swiss websites: In 1,839 cases Switch malware was detected last year. This is around a third less than in 2013, when around 2,718 cases were detected. The domain holders removed the malicious code in 1,493 cases after the first notification by Switch. This contrasts with the increase in phishing cases. For this reason, since October 1, 2014, the owner of the infected website has also been informed automatically by e-mail in the event of phishing.
The number of phishing cases increased almost fivefold from the first to the fourth quarter of 2014, according to Switch. The process for removal is the same as for malware detection: Switch checks phishing on websites and notifies the owner. In 2014, 323 phishing cases were registered, of which 298 had the phishing site removed after the initial notification.
If phishing is suspected, Switch recommends that this be reported to the Swiss Internet Security Alliance to report.
"We are seeing a sharp increase in phishing reports to our organization compared to 2013." - Serge Droz, Head of Cert, Switch Security.
