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Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ PCs under attack from hackers more than 50 times a night, suggests Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ News Website experiment
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Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ PCs could be under attack from hackers more than 50 times a night, suggests a Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ News Website experiment.
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The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ News Website team set up a 'honeypot' PC - a computer that looks like a normal PC online but records everything that's done to it - in order to find out the dangers facing web users.
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Every single time the honeypot was put online it was attacked.
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In one of the busiest nights of malicious online activity, the computer was attacked 53 times:
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 one hijack attempt. PC suffered buffer overflow attempt to subvert web server built into Microsoft Windows.
A successful attack would hand over control of the machine to a hacker;
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two "port scans" which look for weak spots in Windows software - reconnaissance by hackers seeking new victims;
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11 attacks by the 'Blaster' worm - success would have rendered the machine unusable;
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three attacks by the 'Slammer' worm - success would have left machine crippled and prone to crashing;
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36 fake security announcements/adverts for fake security software posing as warnings. Reacting to these could leave a PC clogged with spyware.
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Over the course of the whole experiment, on average, at least one attack an hour came from a dangerous computer bug with the ability to cripple an unprotected PC.
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And at least one attack per night was even more serious - an attempt to hijack the computer entirely - which could lead to the computer being turned into a 'zombie PC' and used to carry out criminal activity without the owner's knowledge.
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The experiment demonstrates the vulnerability of unprotected home PCs to malicious hackers.
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According to Symantec, 86% of all targeted attacks on computers are aimed at home users.
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There are an estimated 200,000 malicious programs in existence.
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Starting today (Monday 9 October 2006), the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ News Website is running a whole week of special features looking at the issue of hi-tech crime and giving people advice on they can stay safe online.
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As part of the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ News Website's Cracking Hi-Tech Crime specials the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ also talks to the hi-tech criminals behind the viruses, 'phishing' emails and malicious programs putting home PCs at risk.
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One hacker the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ spoke to claims to have earned $10,000 a day from computer crime.
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Another says that they can hack into many online shops within three to four hours and sell the data on for anything between $100 and $500.
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Unconcerned about the risk of arrest the hacker adds: "How can a cop catch me? Catch me if they can!"
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Notes to Editors
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In the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's honeypot PC experiment none of the attacks was solicited. The computer was simply put online and the attacks recorded over a month-long period.
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The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's honeypot PC recorded around 30 attacks in each seven-hour overnight test period (midnight-7.00am), with attacks occurring around every 12 to 15 minutes.
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Most were 'nuisance' attacks - fake security warnings or attempts to trick people into thinking their machine had been hijacked.
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According to the Get Safe Online campaign, which launches in the same week as the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ News Website's special week of hi-tech crime features, 52% of Britons use online banking.
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In 2005 UK losses to 'phishing' hit Β£23m - almost double that lost in 2004.
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PC penetration in the UK has hit 57% of households, of which 69% are broadband users.
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