When you're out and about with your laptop, you probably like to frequent spots where you know you can score easy access to the Internet via a hotspot. When you're outside your own home network, though, which you've probably secured with a password against strangers, you're often at your most vulnerable. You never know who you're sharing a network with.

Fifteen years ago the floppy disk was the most common method used by malware writers to spread viruses, and in more recent years e-mail has been the primary vector. But the trend now seems toward spreading malware and exploiting vulnerabilities using malicious code on websites which exploit browser vulnerabilities.

According to IBM Internet Security Systems X-Force team 2008 Trend & Risk Report “the number of vulnerabilities affecting Web applications has grown at a staggering rate. In 2008, vulnerabilities affecting Web server applications accounted for 54 percent of all vulnerability disclosures and were one of the primary factors in the overall growth of vulnerability disclosures during the year.”

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