2009 marked a significant increase in the level of sophistication of malware attacks, especially Trojans. Trojans such as ZeuS, Urlzone and Clampi – which have been developed not only to steal personal identifying and financial data, but also can hide their activity whilst carrying out the crime – show an increase in the level of sophistication of malware attacks in 2009.
Simon Heron, Internet Security Analyst for Network Box says:”With the ability to mount man-in-the-middle attacks, users are increasingly vulnerable to account takeover without having the slightest idea that something untoward is happening.”
2009 has also seen a flurry of attacks on popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as large scale corporate data breaches. These attacks indicate that cybergangs are starting to use the increased popularity of online collaboration to their own malicious advantages.
Heron says: “2009 has seen several existing trends grow in popularity. We can now shop, bank, play games, use applications and communicate over multiple platforms, not only from our computers, but our mobile devices, personal music players and game consoles. This multi-platform, multi-channel access represents a growing threat to the security of our data – both personal and corporate.”
Network Box argues that the increased diversification and sophistication of cyber attacks is a difficult challenge, when the gangs behind the production of malware are spread out across so many nations. Heron says: “Bringing these gangs to justice will require effective international co-operation between rich and poorer nations worldwide. Both the crime, and the punishment levied for it, will have to be recognised and reinforced by all nations; otherwise the gangs will continue to shift production to less restrictive nations.”
For more information on 2009 trends, see Simon Heron’s blog…
For more information on security issues, visit Network Box, see Simon Heron’s blog; or follow him on Twitter.
