Java was favored by hackers in 2013

The goal of a hacker is to exploit vulnerabilities in a system to gain access to what they want. In the first half of 2013, Java was their favorite target.

Java was the most targeted development platform for exploit attacks during the first half of the year, and attacks have increasingly shifted to zero-day vulnerabilities, according to F-Secure’s new threat report.

“Of the top five most targeted vulnerabilities, four are found in the Java development, either the Runtime Environment (JRE) or the browser plug-in,” according to the report, based on information about attacks detected through F-Secure’s sensors and telemetry systems. The company notes that it’s not surprising Java is an appealing target since “next to the Windows operating system (also a popular target for exploits), Java is probably the second most ubiquitous program in an organization’s IT setup.”