Online 'incidents' reach 1.5 billion per day

7 December 2006

The operator of the .com and .net domain names has revealed that numbers of new internet security issues now total over 1.5 billion every day – and are still on the increase.

VeriSign, which oversees security encryptions for over three million websites, said that over 100 million web users have now themselves been affected by online identity fraud, with over $15 billion (£8 billion) lost to such activities.

Examples of security incidents include unauthorised use of log-in names, browser hijacking and phishing – the practice of creating fake websites aimed to fool web users into believing that they are on a trusted site.

Speaking at the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU's) world trade show in Hong Kong, VeriSign executive vice president Neil McGowan said that the figure was potentially now even greater.

"That number is 90 days old and it's still growing," he warned.

The ITU event also addressed the issue of spam, which now accounts for eight or nine of every ten emails sent, according to recent research.

Category: Miscellaneous