Computer Crime Research Center

cybercrime/orgcybercrime.jpg

Cyber-crime in 2012

Date: January 20, 2012
Source: ITP.net


There will be five categories of key players at the top of the cyber-crime game in 2012, according to Costin Raiu, director, Global Research &Analysis, Kaspersky Lab.

At the top of the list of key players in the cyber-crime landscape, are hacktivist groups such as the Saudi and Israeli hacktivists.

"According to our research, the hacktivist groups are at the top, the best examples are the Israeli-Saudi hackers who are hacking each other for national pride reasons; the Anonymous group which will target pretty much anyone they think is worth their attention; the Lulzsec team; the poison team, there are quite a few hacktivist groups to be honest, they are not doing it for money or profit, but for fun and national pride," said Raiu.

The second group of key players is the big military superpowers, which are now using the internet to create a silent war.

"Big military superpowers have discovered the internet and the fact that they can not just fight each other on the internet, but can exploit the internet by doing a cold war silently with cloak and dagger activities, which at the moment, works well for some and not others," said Raiu.

Japan, a country not usually associated closely with cyber-crime activities, recently announced that they are developing a sophisticated virus which they will use, although they did not specify for what, according to Raiu.

The third group, according to Kapersky Lab's research is the big software companies such as Apple, Adobe and Microsoft, because they create the software which runs on all computers and they are the main target for hackers, because hackers need new zero-day exploits to break computers. Hackers can find new zero-day exploits by attacking the big software companies.

"The best example of such software companies is Adobe which was hacked in the Aurora attack. According to some information, the hackers got access to the source code for the Abode PDF reader and that can be used to find new zero-day exploits," said Raiu.

The fourth big player on the cyber-crime landscape is the security companies, because they provide the protection for the world's computers.

"The evolution of attacks in the future will follow the latest developments in security technologies," said Raiu.


Add comment  Email to a Friend

Copyright © 2001-2013 Computer Crime Research Center
CCRC logo