Cyber Threat Gaining Edge Over Drug Trafficking

According to the Internet security firm Symantec, although cyber criminals are getting sharper and stronger and their approach to commit crimes is becoming more devious and sophisticated each passing day, Internet threats are being tackled due to active response from global storage, security and systems management solutions provider.

David Freer, vice president for consumer business at Symantec Asia-Pacific, in a recent press conference said that as cyber crime is increasing worldwide, government and organizations need to be vigilant, as per the news published by Business Mirror on October 26, 2009.

Freer further added that cyber crime has outshined illegal drug trafficking in terms of making money illegally. An identity is stolen every three seconds, and the fact that cyber criminals are now targeting lives rather than computers cannot be ignored.

In fact, in each month during 2008, Symantec blocked an average of over 245 Million attempted cyber attacks worldwide. In an attempt to obtain personal data, victims are being tricked through phony e-mails, forged websites, and fake online advertisements.

Further, as per the studies conducted by Symantec, from being merely college hackers, cyber crooks have evolved to run full-fledged businesses within an illegitimate and underground economy. Simultaneously, Internet threats have surged enormously in the last three years, and a majority of them target particular users with relevant personal/financial information, which can be exploited later.

Around 1.3 Million known online threats had been detected in mid-2009 alone, and this figure is more than half of previous year's record. Social networking websites have facilitated cyber criminals with a new platform to implement their malicious applications.

Furthermore, malicious software has also gained more sophistication. They are successfully tricking traditional virus signatures by using unknown codes that infect and implant themselves into some websites.

Moreover, Symantec's data also revealed that cyber crooks not only steal the personal information but they further sell it to the highest bidder in the online black market. As the online traffic has remarkably increased and social networking websites have become more pervasive, cyber crime, as compared to drug trafficking, now earns more profit, said Symantec.

» SPAMfighter News - 06-11-2009

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