Government Technology

Security Threat Update


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May 18, 2009 By

2008 saw a dramatic spike in security breaches resulting in millions of compromised records. This could be spurred by economic troubles, or perhaps online crime is just an easy target.

For example, the average bank robbery will net about $3,000 -- with a fairly good chance of going to prison or even being shot.

Now compare the use of a botnet to commit an online crime. On average, such thefts make $5,000 a week, with very little chance of being caught and even less chance of being injured or killed. Not to mention, you can do this from the comfort of your own living room. Which option is more appealing?

With statistics like these, it's no wonder thieves are turning to online crimes. Internet crime has grown exponentially in recent years and trends show that it will continue in this direction until we change the way we think about security.

In a recent security threat update, Don Hewatt of Verizon Business explained that highly organized crime circles are responsible for the majority of security breaches. In Verizon's recently published 2009 Data Breach Investigation Report, it is estimated that 285 million records were breached in 2008, which is more than the past four years combined. Over 90 percent of those compromised records were attributed to organized crime networks. Attacks and breaches are becoming very complex in nature. A new trend shows that there is a rise in custom malware which targets specific assets. And what do criminals do once they obtain this data? Usually it is handed over to another "tier" in the criminal hierarchy, making it even more difficult to catch those involved in these types of crimes.


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