UK is the Prime Target of Cyber Attacks in EMEA Region - FireEye

Security firm FireEye released a report revealing UK as the most targeted by cyber attacks in Europe and the Middle East or Africa (EMEA) during first half of 2014.

Regional Advanced Threat Report of FirEye for first half of 2014 stated that UK was beleaguered by 17% of all advanced persistent attacks (APTs) across these three zones from January-June.

APTs are cyber attacks where unauthorized parties gain entrée to a network and remain unidentified for a long time. These (referring to APT) attacks actually involve intricate malware designed to pilfer data of high-value information from organizations in sectors like manufacturing, finance and national defense. UK is followed Germany with 12% share and Saudi Arabia with 10% of attacks stood third.

National Security Council of UK has identified cyber attacks as a "tier one" risk to national security causing major international conflict and international terrorism.

Ft.com published news on 17th October 2014 quoting Ashar Aziz, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of FireEye as saying, "These are hidden damaging attacks mainly against energy, financial and telecommunications sectors and the government and since last 12 months these attacks have doubled with sophisticated nation state affiliate operations."

UK spends more money on cyber defense than any other country in Europe and assures that its government is protecting its infrastructure and companies against attack, which has become a significant focus of its efforts.

It is unfortunate that this year UK government intranet had been attacked by a "state-sponsored battle group" but luckily GCHQ, the electronic surveillance agency of government, fought it off before it could steal any sensitive material.

V3.co.uk reported on 16th October 2014 quoting Richard Turner, Vice President of local FirEye, as saying "Advanced attacks are the latest truth for government and business. Organisations can avoid this risk and should stop the theft of their data and intellectual assets by their competitors, hacktivists or adversaries by preparing an effective defensive strategy."

Meanwhile, regarding malware, DarkComet (38%) was the most prolific followed by njRAT (19%) and XtremeRAT (19%).

Other countries targeted frequently include Turkey (9%), Switzerland (8%), Italy (6%), Qatar (5%), France (4%), Sweden (4%) and Spain (3%).

» SPAMfighter News - 10/29/2014