Internet fraud and other crimes are becoming increasingly professional and worth billions of dollars each year, according to a new report.

A report by internet security company Symantec has found that an underground economy exists in which online marketplaces auction off details of credit cards and user names, according to the BBC.

The rise in the popularity of online crime has been demonstrated by statistics from Symantec, which found there to be 212,101 new internet threats reported during the first six months of 2007 - a 185 per cent increase over the previous six months.

William Beer, Symantec's European director of security practice, told the BBC: "We're seeing a definite shift in terms of commercialisation. It's being used by organised crime and it's being used to launch their attacks. We have seen very focussed attacks that leverage very active commercial business on toolkits."

Symantec's ThreatCon security level currently is set at normal, revealing that there is no unusual malicious code activity with a moderate or severe risk rating on the internet.

Categories: Internet Security

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