Cyber Criminals Expect to Use Sophisticated Attack Techniques in 2009

Marshal8e6, an online security firm, claims that Internet threats have become more complex. They are just not confined to email and web-based attacks, but become a new trend of mixed threats, as reported by Business Solution on March 27, 2009.

After several years of struggle, McColo, an important spam hosting provider, was closed down by law agencies and security experts that provided some relief from rising spam volume.

Now the officials are aimed at eradicating the problem from its roots rather than attacking only symptoms. As once again humbled by the statistics, the threat landscape is likely to become much more complex and advanced in 2009. These attacks use several platforms and fill the gap between mail and web to circulate harmful content more efficiently.

The security firm further says that in 2009, there are five major security trends that should remain in everybody's mind. One of the first trends is Spam Botnets. Unfortunately, as the controllers of the infected botnets (McColo) succeeded in bringing their servers online at new network locations, the spam amount has recovered to some extent.

As per security researchers, botnets will use more obfuscated control methods which include peer-to-peer networks in 2009 to launch their attacks.

Moreover, spammers, malware creators and hackers are using harmless legitimate websites to spread their malware to clean machines. There are several reasons for rising instances of malware attacks by legitimate sites. One of them is that the conventional URL filtering does not recognize the change in threat pattern of a hacked legitimate site fast enough.

Further, blended mail attacks and social networking sites are other important trends that hackers will use in 2009. The rising popularity of social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook and the share sites like YouTube will be another significant target for hackers in 2009. In addition, the line between email and web-based threats is fading as hackers have adopted a blended approach.

Virtualization is another emerging trend as many firms are operating or have operated virtualization projects to strengthen their server infrastructure. Hence, the next victim of hackers will be the security infrastructure.

Related article: Cyber Child abuser Sentenced To Imprisonment

» SPAMfighter News - 4/2/2009