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). ®