Network Box has also looked into its own data to examine the lesser known threats aimed its customers. "We find 99.8 percent of threats are seen by 50 percent of all our customers with a very small percent that hit only one or two customers," noted Webb-Johnson.

Network Box found these to be a variety of Trojans, scripting and macro viruses which tended to originate from the region. Webb Johnson noted it was uncertain if these equated to targeted attacks. "It all depends on how you interpret such data," he said. "But it's definitely harder to protect yourself from the 0.2 percent of threats that occur."

Low-lying menace

The more common and widespread the threat, the more likely security companies will be alerted and speedily react to protect customers. The emergence of new threats targeted at a few specific companies pose a significant challenge to enterprises and their security providers.

Awareness of such threats is currently very low, noted Sunner from MessageLabs. "It may take one or two huge incidents to wake everyone up," he said. On the technology front there is little to suggest anything immediate to address these targeted specific threats. Sunner admits security firms have yet to address this trend directly as it is not on everyone's radar yet.