Team Skeptic Predicts the Security Storm Will Worsen in 08
Team Skeptic Predicts the Security Storm Will Worsen in 08
November 19, 2007: Another year and another gloomy security outlook is upon us, this time with predictions of hackers unleashing more sophisticated nasties as they attempt to avoid becoming predictable.
Team Skeptic is a team of global malware experts put together by security firm, Message Labs in order to track and predict the nature of security threats coming soon to a computer terminal near you. Following on from the stormy seas of 2007, the Skeptic’s foresee even worse threats coming our way in 2008.
“2007 was the year of prolific cyber-crime with certain gangs becoming famous within the security industry. Notoriety within a hot market always encourages an influx of new players wanting their slice of success and thus, the threat market is set to be even hotter in 2008,” said Mark Sunner, chief security analyst, MessageLabs.
One of the major danger areas the Skeptic’s have identified for 2008 is existing botnets spreading even further, along with brand new ones joining the fray. Botnet’s are networks of infected computers which synch up with each other without the user realising it, this allows the hacker to access the combined computing power of hundreds of thousands of computer terminals which are constantly trying to spread the infection.
The most infamous of the 2007 botnet’s is the Storm botnet, which has seen a major infection rate across the globe and has become extremely adept at protecting itself, security firms who seek to target the botnet find themselves the victim of a major denial of service attack from the countless thousands of computers who makeup the botnet. With this kind of defensive capability, botnets like Storm are becoming harder to counteract and predict and as such other malware groups are looking at starting their own.
“In addition to the number of players within the market, significant increases will also be seen in the techniques the bad guys will use. Predictability is the Achilles heel of cyber-crime and the bad guys will avoid repeat attacks at all costs.” said Sunner.
It’s been a common theme amongst security reports this year that hackers are looking towards more financially orientated goals and with good reason according to Team Skeptic, who explain the shadow economy is at around $US 105 billion ($AU 117 billion) which is a very lucrative plum for a lot of hacker groups to want a piece of.