Internet safety under 'severe threat': Report

China should pay extra attention to Internet security issues as hackers have started to put their hands on the nation's online banking and payment platforms, an industry report warned on July 10.

"As online shopping and banking businesses become increasingly popular in the country, a large number of hackers are eyeing e-transaction services in a bid to gain illegal profit," said the report released by Beijing Rising Information Technology.

Trojan horse viruses were among the top threats during the first six months of this year, and had attacked about 740 million Chinese Internet users, the report said, adding that more than 3.3 million new viruses were detected during the same period.

A virus specially designed to steal private information from online shopping website Taobao.com's third-party promoters was among the Top 10 most-detected viruses in the first half of this year, the report showed.

Earlier this year, Flame, one of the most sophisticated computer viruses ever discovered, was detected on the Chinese mainland. Internet security experts say it could potentially cause information leaks on enterprise and government websites as well as individual computers.

In addition, more than 3 million phishing sites were detected by the company, an increase by about 30 percent compared to the same period in 2011.

"Phony banking and shopping websites were major sources of phishing attacks," said the report.

"China is likely to face more severe, more complex, and more massive Web attacks from hackers who attempt to loot the nation's e-commerce platforms," it added.