The details behind some of these new statistics are illuminating.

In the realm of , for instance, many attackers continue to emphasize online commerce sites like eBay and PayPal, Provos noted. Their methods, however, are becoming more creative and sophisticated.

Many phishing sites remain online for less than an hour so as to avoid detection, for example; such sites are also becoming and are increasingly used to distribute malware, he added.

Social Engineering on the Rise

Focusing on , Google's Safe Browsing effort identifies two kinds: legitimate sites that are hacked on a mass scale to deliver or redirect to malware--often via ""--and attack sites that are specifically built to distribute malware.