Cyber Security Reaches "Tipping Point" in 2008; Attacks on Critical Infrastructure Systems and Cyber Warfare Will Increase in 2009

Description

Over the course of the past year, the report said, cyber crimes continued to increase in both frequency and severity thanks to new exploits and organizations to perpetrate them. Cyber Cartels, groups of young and modern cyber criminals likened by VeriSign iDefense to drug cartels of the 1980s, targeted commercial -- not individual -- banking accounts for fraud operations and security measures meant to protect those accounts and routinely defeated the protections.

Additionally, cyber warfare has become a reality in today's political climate, and several regions are seeing a rise in politically and financially motivated activities. According to VeriSign iDefense, Russian hackers are the most effective group when it comes to cyber fraud, while Chinese hackers utilize amateur hacking groups for low-level espionage operations.

"The cyber security landscape has fundamentally changed where 'script kiddies' no longer perpetrate the lion's share of malicious activity online," said Jason Greenwood, vice president and general manager, VeriSign iDefense Security Intelligence Services. "Professionalized cyber criminals, the rise of cyber cartels or extremists using online fraud as a means to fund their operations, and cyber espionage and warfare show how we have entered a new era of online security threats."

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