The figures, released today, show that firms in all sectors were
severely hit by viruses and spam last year, but manufacturing was
the most affected.
Eighty-two percent of e-mails received by the sector were spam,
while one in every 26 e-mails contained a virus.
Firms in the recreation (74%), retail (64%) and chemicals and
pharmaceuticals (64%) sectors also suffered badly from spam, while
government and public sector e-mails fared better, with only 19% of
their received e-mail being spam.
According to MessageLabs, viruses were the biggest problem among
not-for-profit and healthcare organisations, where one in every six
e-mails contained malicious content. The government and public
sector (1:9), retail (1:10), education organisations (1:12) and
building and construction companies (1:14) also sustained regular
attack.
The sectors best protected from viruses were professional services,
such as legal firms, where the ratio was one in every 38 e-mails,
and financial services companies who received a virus every 29
e-mails.
"The severity of these attacks is unsurprising, as 2004 marked a
sea-change in terms of e-mail security threats to business," said
Mark Sunner, Chief Technology Officer at MessageLabs. "The
convergence of viruses and spam is now dominant – almost all
viruses released in 2004 contained some additional component
allowing the infected machine to become a spam sending zombie. So
it is of little surprise that all sectors of 'UK plc' were so badly
hit".
"What is notable is the spread of the attacks however," he added.
"In previous years the companies most affected tended to be those
dealing mostly with less-protected home users. This year there does
not appear to be such an obvious trend. That said, those companies
most aware of the need to protect confidential information in their
business – such as law firms and banks – do tend to have the most
sophisticated approach to their security."
