eCards flood cyberspace in Fortinet July '09 threatscape report

The FortiGuard Global Security Research Team reported this threat trend alongside others, including two exploits in the wild, growing mobile threats and a first-place showing for the ever-present online gaming malware variant.

"With users flocking to popular Web 2.0 tools, including social networking sites, cyber criminals are following the masses and using these emerging platforms as new threat-delivery mechanisms with success. This is an especially effective strategy as users can view social media tools to be a trusted network. But, regardless of the image or what the link appears to be, users should always observe where any hyperlink will actually take you and exercise due care."

said Derek Manky, project manager, cyber security and threat research, Fortinet.

The FortiGuard research team compiled threat statistics and trends for July based on data collected from FortiGate network security appliances and intelligence systems in production worldwide. Customers who use updated Fortinet's FortiGuard Subscription Services should be protected against the threats outlined in this report.

FortiGuard Subscription Services offer broad security solutions including antivirus, intrusion prevention, Web content filtering and anti-spam capabilities. These services help enable protection against threats on both application and network layers.

FortiGuard Services are updated by the FortiGuard Global Security Research Team, which enables Fortinet to deliver a combination of multi-layered security intelligence and zero-day protection from new and emerging threats. For customers with a subscription to FortiGuard, these updates are delivered to all FortiGate, FortiMail and FortiClient products.