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Symantec Tracks Rise In CyberCrime
John Stith
Staff Writer
2006-03-07
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Cupertino, California-based Symantec released its newest volume of their Internet Security Threat Report. Symantec notes in the report attacks continue to zero in on poaching personal information from PCs and that the notion of merely damaging and destroying data may be a thing of the past.
For months now, trends lead the fact that various cyber attacks are not of the vandalistic variety. Attacks are primarily for financial gain and Symantec confirms this notion. The report, covering the six month period from July 1, 2005 to December 31st, 2005, plays out what they noted in the previous report and that is malicious code for profit is becoming the driving force on the Internet.
"Cybercrime represents today's greatest threat to consumers' digital lifestyle and to online businesses in general," said Arthur Wong, vice president, Symantec Security Response and Managed Security Services. "The unparalleled insight this report provides into how cybercrime is happening and how it can be prevented enables Symantec to help protect the widest variety of customers in the world."
The report also notes a growing trend of attackers using bot networks, targeted attacks on web applications and web browsers and modular malicious code. Symantec said they expect to see more diverse and sophisticated threats used for cybercrime as well as an increase in the theft of confidential, financial and personal information for financial gain.
Programs that provide attackers with unauthorized control of a computer, known as bots, also contribute to the rise in cybercrime threats. While the number of bot-infected computers is 11 percent lower than last period-with an average of 9,163 infected systems identified each day during the current reporting period-bot networks are increasingly used for criminal activities such as denial of service (DoS)-based extortion attempts. Symantec estimates that this measurement is only capturing a portion of global activity and that the actual infection numbers are likely to be much higher.
One important trend in this report is the niche attacks. Attackers don't go with broad, multi-purpose attacks. They focus on regional targets, desktops, web applications that allow hackers to steal corporate, personal, financial or confidential information.
While there is nothing blindingly new in the report, it does firmly reiterate the point that hacking is just for amateurs anymore. This is a real business with real financial goals. Unfortunately, the financial goals generally involve swiping someone's credit card or trying to utilize their credit information. Symantec noted 1,402 DoS attacks per day. This is pure extortion and it's only going to get worse. More attention needs to be paid to security as various groups vie for control of your computer.
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Tag: Symantec
About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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