Cybercriminals Innovate To Fuel Underground Economy

Symantec Corp has released its new Internet Security Threat Report volume XV, which highlights key trends in cybercrime last year. Criminals from the Internet’s underground economies aren’t just content to steal hard-earned money from ordinary users, they are increasingly focusing their efforts on high-end crime. Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report reveals continued growth in both the volume and sophistication of cybercrime attacks.

Notable trends highlighted the report include:

• Cybercriminals have turned their attention toward enterprises- Due to the given the potential for monetary gain from compromised corporate intellectual property (IP).
• Web-based attacks continued to grow unabated- Today’s attackers leverage social engineering techniques to lure unsuspecting users to malicious Web sites.
• Credit card information remains the most frequently advertised data by cybercriminals- Stolen credit card information can be quickly and easily used to purchase goods online where relatively minimal card information is required to authorise transactions.
• Malicious Activity takes root in emerging countries- According to the Internet and Mobile Association of India, internet usage in the country has risen by 20 per cent in the last year alone with people progressively spending more time online.

India Highlights:

• India saw an average of 788 bots per day during 2009- There were 62,623 distinct bot-infected computers observed in the country during the period.
• Top malicious code propagation vectors- 71 percent of the malicious codes were propagated through file sharing/ executables, 35 percent through files transfer and CIFS (Common Internet File System) and 17 percent through remotely exploitable vulnerability.
• Malicious code types- A continuing trend for Internet users in India is the threat landscape being heavily infested with worms and viruses.
• Trends in spam and phishing- India is the third highest spam originating country in the world, contributing four percent to the worldwide spam volumes.

“Attackers have evolved from simple scams to highly sophisticated and focused campaigns,” said Vishal Dhupar, Managing Director, Symantec, India. “The scale of these attacks and the fact that they originate from across the world makes this a truly international problem requiring global cooperation.”