Sunnyvale, Calif, Substantial growth in user generated content has opened new opportunities for Internet security threats, according to a new report by Commtouch® (Nasdaq: CTCH). The fourth quarter 2008 Internet Threats Trend Report, released today, is based on the automated analysis of billions of email messages and Web sites in real-time at Commtouch’s Global Detection Centers.

• Streaming media and downloads are among the top 10 website categories infected with malware and/ or manipulated by phishing. These are two of the most popular categories within user generated content sites.
• McColo, one of the largest hosts of cyber-criminal gangs, was effectively shut down in November 2008, causing spam levels to drop to one-third their usual level for several weeks.
• Spam levels averaged 72% of all email traffic throughout the quarter, falling briefly to 59% following the McColo closing in November.
• An average of 301,000 zombies were newly activated each day for the purpose of malicious activity.
• Brazil led in zombie computer activity, producing 14.6% of zombies at the end of the quarter.
• Spammers continue to exploit legitimate sites like Google docs to bypass content filtering systems.

“With user generated content on blogs, file sharing platforms and social networks having experienced huge growth over the last few years, spammers and malicious script writers are finding new ways to engage users,” said Amir Lev, chief technology officer of Commtouch.

 “An increasing number of blended threats have emerged as new opportunities to infect users’ machines have arisen. These kinds of sites have become targets for new, more elaborative schemes, and users, vendors and service providers must beware and employ protection measures.”

Commtouch Recurrent Pattern Detection™ and GlobalView™ technologies identify and block messaging and Web security threats, including increasingly malicious malware and phishing outbreaks. Commtouch messaging security technologies were recently awarded the 2008 European Messaging Security Technology Innovation of the Year Award by analyst firm Frost & Sullivan.

Commtouch also ranked Number 32 on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA 2008 and seventh on the Israel Technology Fast 50, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology firms in Israel.

NOTE:

Reported global spam levels are based on Internet email traffic as measured from unfiltered data streams, not including internal corporate traffic. Therefore global spam levels will differ from the quantities reaching end user inboxes, due to several possible layers of filtering at the ISP level.

About Commtouch

Commtouch® (NASDAQ: CTCH) is the source of proven messaging and Web security technology for scores of security companies and service providers, founded on a unique cloud-based datacenter approach.

Commtouch’s expertise in building efficient, massive-scale security services has resulted in its patented technology mitigating Internet threats for thousands of organizations and hundreds of millions of users in more than 100 countries.

Commtouch technology automatically analyzes billions of Internet transactions in real-time to identify new threats as they are initiated, protecting email infrastructures and enabling safe, compliant browsing. The unmatched suite of Commtouch security offerings is based on patented Recurrent Pattern Detection (RPD™) and GlobalView™ technologies, which work together in a comprehensive feedback loop and offer equally effective protection for all languages and formats. Commtouch was founded in 1991, is headquartered in Netanya, Israel, and has a subsidiary in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Stay abreast of the latest trends all quarter long, at the Commtouch Café: http://blog.commtouch.com. For more information about enhancing security offerings with Commtouch technology, see commtouch.com or write nospam@commtouch.com.

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