Page 10 - Jan 2014

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

The biggest

security threats

for 2014

Last year, the topic cyber security made headlines with Black Hole was probably the most successful exploit kit
attacks on national level, spectacular cases of data in history. But it was all over when in October 2013 the
abuse and the arrest of prominent hackers. The more alleged author of the infamous kit, the "Paunch", was
interesting it is to take a look at Websense Security arrested in Russia. Numerous new and old exploit kits
Labs predictions for 2014, as the security expert fore- will fight for the legacy of Black Hole this year and Red-
casts in its recently published report eight major threats kit and Neutrino will play a major role.
that will approach us this year:
5. Java remains particularly vulnerable
1. The quantity of malware drops, but the quality
increases As there will be still many outdated versions of Java in
use that provide a gateway for exploits, cybercriminals
The real-time feeds of ThreatSeeker Intelligence Cloud will spent even more time on advanced attack methods
indicates that although fewer new malicious software is to refine their tactics.
released, there is no reason for an all-clear, on the con-
trary. Cybercriminals are working less with high-volume 6. Attackers increasingly lure executives
malware because of the higher risk of being discovered
over time. Instead, they are progressively trying to get As the business community will continue to use social
access rights with targeted attacks to make their way networks extensively in 2014, cybercriminals will in-
through the infiltrated network. Thus, the risk of becom- creasingly do research on managers on sites like
ing a victim of an attack actually increases, even if the LinkedIn and lay their bait there. With this highly target-
volume decreases. ed method, they want to get information that is useful to
compromise corporate networks.
2. There will be a big case of data destruction
7. Attacks target the weakest link in the information
So far, hackers have mainly tried to make profit with chain
stolen information. In 2014, companies must be pre-
pared for attacks with a new design, as national states Attacker will increasingly target groups this year which
and cybercriminals are gradually trying to break into are outside of the network and have valuable infor-
networks to destroy data. Here, the so-called ransom- mation, including consultants, suppliers and others who
ware, malicious programs with which the intruder can are sharing sensitive information with companies and
prevent access to data and its use, will play an im- authorities.
portant role.
8. Offensive defense leads to errors
3. Data attacks are increasingly in the cloud
For several years, an aggressive defense against cy-
Cybercriminals will focus their attacks more on data bercrime is under discussion. Governments and com-
stored in the Cloud. With this tactical pivot they follow panies around the world threaten with retaliatory
the shift of critical business data into cloud-based solu- strikes, if caught in an attack attempt, however, prob-
tions. The hackers will find that it is easier and more lems with the unique identification of cybercriminals
rewarding to penetrate into the data-rich Cloud than into could cause innocent people to get targeted as well. ◊
corporate networks.
The complete report can be downloaded here.
4. Redkit, Neutrino and other exploit kits are fighting

for the follow-up Black Hole By Daniela La Marca
10 Asian eMarketing November 2013 - E-Commerce & Affiliate Marketing