Cisco Cautions of Rising Threats from Changing Cyber Trends

As per the news released by the security company 'Cisco Systems Inc.', the company has reported diverse trends that it observed in the first half (H1) of 2009 in its new regular report Cisco 2009 Midyear Security Report.

In the report, Cisco informed that the beleaguered job market could result in a rise of online crimes like hacking and online malware circulation as out-of-job employees, particularly those with computer skills, switch to scams to sustain themselves.

In its new report, Cisco cautioned firms using temporary IT consultants or who contract out the tasks to be predominantly watchful about the extent and term of their access to personal details.

Other details of the latest report include stealing of users' conversation snippets by botmaster and the threat of system hacking from a distant hacker who takes over systems without the users' knowledge. The report also highlights that hackers usually sell the stolen information to spammers and other cyber criminals.

In addition, another harmful fact that has been disclosed by Cisco is the global outbreak of H1N1 influenza (generally referred to as "swine flu") that started during April 2009 which rapidly results in an outburst of another type - a salvo of spam mails with swine flu as lure.

It is known that during April 2009, cyber attackers started sending spam mails with subject lines - "US swine flu fears" and "Swine flu in Hollywood." Users who clicked on these e-mails were flooded with messages asking them to purchase unreal swine flu preventive medication, along with a link to numerous sites to sell bogus pharmaceutical products.

As per Pat Peterson, a Cisco fellow, the attackers are progressively taking lessons from the corporate world in order to improve their efficiency.

Cisco provides an instance of this statement. In less than one day after Michael Jackson's (June 25, 2009) death, attackers sent almost 5 Billion spam mails, touching the level of 5% of worldwide spam - an intensity of pace and receptiveness that Cisco officials discussed rivaled the media industry's chase to muster in quest of the story.

Related article: Cisco Finds Two Vulnerabilities and Recommends for Patches

» SPAMfighter News - 7/30/2009