Large corporate web sites were heavily targeted by hackers in the early part of 2008, said the threat round-up report from US security firm Trend Micro.

Cyber criminals launched SQL injection attacks on thousands of web pages belonging to some of the largest companies in the US, as well as state government agencies and educational institutions.

Criminals are increasinlgy targeting affluent users such as C-level executives in the hope of accessing lucrative bank accounts and sourcing log-in credentials and email addresses that span whole organisations.

Criminals are keeping pace with technology and becoming more ambitious in selecting targets, said Raimund Genes, chief technology officer of Trend Micro.

"This is a good example of how cyber criminals are evolving with the times. They are moving away from threats that use old or waning technologies and instead focusing on the lucrative threats that bring a bigger payload," he said

In its report, Trend Micro said mobile threats are continuing to emerge, and it discovered malware disguised as multimedia content was being used to infect older Nokia mobile phones.

Tracking software ware infections declined by 15 per cent between May 2007 and April 2008 while adware and keyloggers were also down.