Spanish cybercrime on the rise

Online fraud in Spain experienced a year-on-year growth of 50 percent in the first four months of 2006, the Computer Crime Research Center reports.

Although cybercrime may not be viewed as a pressing concern in Spain, according to some sources, the country occupies third place in the world in the Internet fraud league table.

For instance, over the past 18 months some 500 bogus websites of banks and other financial institutions used in phishing attacks have been detected. In all, 206 massive phishing attacks on Spanish financial institutions were seen in 2005.

The level of bot infections has also grown a staggering 175% between 2004 and 2005. And while 70% of all malware detected in the first three months of 2006 was related to cybercrime (spyware, bots, backdoors), nearly two thirds (60%) of all Wi-Fi networks remained unprotected