The number of e-mails seeking to lure users into phishing scams hit its highest level so far in May, according to IBM's monthly Global Business Security Index. According to the report, phishing attacks were up by a whopping 226 percent in May.
The rise of the use of "zombie botnets" -- networks of infected computers used to send spam and ill-intentioned e-mail -- is responsible for the big jump in the numbers of phishing e-mail, said IBM.
Through the use of these networks, the senders of malicious e-mail can increase the volume they can send without the knowledge of the owners of the computers being used.
Ganging Up on E-Mail
The world of phishing has changed, said senior technology consultant Graham Cluley of computer security firm Sophos. Increasingly, the people who send e-mail laden with malicious packages are involved in criminal gangs that are reaping enormous financial benefit from the security breaches they exploit.
In addition, the phishing e-mails themselves are getting more sophisticated in the language and tactics they employ.
Instead of simply saying "click here," many of these phishing e-mails present a problem to the recipient: A user account will be closed without action, for example, or a problem with a shipment has been encountered.
Believing they are responding to legitimate business correspondence, many users naively release their sensitive financial data  , such as bank account numbers or credit card information, in response to such messages.
Viruses and Other Malware
In addition to phishing scams, an increasing number of e-mails are bearing attached viruses, found IBM. In May, over 30 percent of all e-mails contained some sort of virus. Cluley noted that a huge percentage of personal computer users do not update their virus protection software frequently and thus fall prey to e-mail viruses unnecessarily.
Spam, however, stayed fairly level in May. Although it accounted for nearly 70 percent of inbound e-mail traffic, it did not experience a significant jump in volume.
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