Web server attacks and website defacements rose 16 per cent last year, according to an independent report. Zone-h, the Estonian security firm best known for its defacement archive, recorded 495,000 web attacks globally in 2004, up from 393,000 in 2003.

Mass defacements (371,000) were by far the largest category in 2005. More targeted attacks on individual servers numbered 124,000. Zone-h reports an increase in politically motivated attacks. It notes a growing number of attacks were launched from Muslim countries, especially Turkey. By contrast, the majority of attacks launched in 2004 originated in Brazil. The most active defacer last year was Iskorpitx, from Turkey, who's bagged 90,000 websites over the last two years.

The security consultancy recorded 49 assaults on US military servers and 31 against NASA websites, a perennially popular target for attack. Zone-h's complete report can be found here (PDF). ®

Related stories

• Defacement archive Zone-h mulls closure (17 March 2008)
• Website for computer security experts hacked (8 November 2007)
• Estonian/Russian statue riots spill online (1 May 2007)
• NSFW Defacement archive Zone-h gets defaced (23 January 2007)
• Chile arrests Nasa hack suspects (7 November 2006)
• Hackers hijack UK.gov wiki (5 September 2006)
• Mitnick gets hit by Pakistani crackers (22 August 2006)
• Updated Holy Moly hacked (17 August 2006)
• Islamist hackers attack Danish sites (9 February 2006)
• Political hackers deface Novell SUSE sites (3 October 2005)
• MS UK defaced in hacking attack (6 July 2005)
• Underground showdown: defacers take on phishers (22 May 2005)