IT security firm F-Secure has launched its annual security wrap-up for 2008. The company is reporting a burgeoning year for cyber criminals with growth in malware, infections, number of botnets and profits made by criminals.
F-Secure said that 2008 has been yet another record year for significant growth in the amount of malicious software (malware) on the Internet, with its detection count seeing an increase of 200pc. This is equal to the total amount of malware accumulated over the previous 21 years.
Criminal activity for financial gain has remained the driver for this increase, with most malware being produced by highly organised criminal gangs using increasingly sophisticated techniques. 2008 has also seen an increase in botnet activity around the world with remotely controlled networks of infected computers remaining a major challenge to the IT security industry. As a result, Internet criminals now have their hands on a vast amount of computing power that is being used to distribute an unprecedented amount of spam emails and malware.
In 2008 Internet security issues once again made global news:
· A huge rise in malware produced in the Chinese language during the Beijing Olympics
· Attacks on the computer systems of the presidential candidates in the United States
· Three major London hospitals affected by a computer virus outbreak
· The United States Department of Defense banning the use of USB memory sticks due the security threat they were said to pose
· Malware detected in space with the help of an online games password stealer that made its way onto the International Space Station via an infected laptop
Bringing Internet criminals to justice remains a challenging task but success has been seen in 2008. Advances include an FBI operation that closed down Dark Market, an online marketplace for stolen credit card details and illegal Internet services, and a journalist campaign/investigation that led to the demise of McColo Corp, a company that hosted major botnets. This resulted in a temporary fall in the amount of spam emails. At a corporate level, Microsoft filed a number of lawsuits against the purveyors of rogue security applications who were attempting to scam users into buying worthless products.
Despite successes
Internet crime is now more prevalent and more professional than ever before. F-Secure believes that an inefficiency in international and national authorities catching, prosecuting and sentencing Internet criminals is to blame. The company believes that 2009 should be the year to ensure all Internet criminals are caught and punished. In support of this view F-Secureโs Chief Research Officer, Mikko Hyppönen, has called for the establishment of โInternetpolโ to tackle online crime, an initiative that has received great interest and support internationally.
Hyppönen says: โThe bottom line is that too few of the perpetrators of Internet crime are either caught or punished. We believe that the result of no action being taken sends the wrong message to these criminals that Internet crime is an easy way to make a lot of money and they will never be caught or punished.โ
The full end of year data security wrap-up for 2008 is now available at http://www.f-secure.com/2008
The latest news on real-time virus threat scenarios is available at the F-Secure Data Security Lab weblog at http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/
