Hack attacks become more sophisticated

The danger of infections by simply visiting websites is on the rise, the Federal Police Office has warned.

Since the beginning of this year, the office’s Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance observed several mass hacks of websites with the intent of infecting users.

Authorities said on Friday that these included websites with excellent reputations and high visitor numbers but provided no names.

In the first half of 2008, there were also numerous waves of spam emails distributed. The emails contained links to malicious software and targeted e-banking applications.

In two cases, an unknown number of emails with the subject line “News on radioactive contamination in Switzerland” were sent out. The link to an alleged video of the accident contained malware.

The report said these types of attacks were difficult to defend against even with traditional security mechanisms including firewalls, anti-virus software and even common sense.

Officials emphasised that the focus should shift to the implementation of better precautionary measures, such as the protection of information and not just computers and networks.