More malicious attacks on the threat horizon warns ISF

That’s the warning from the Information Security Forum (ISF) Threat Horizon 2010 report – which ha some reputation, comprising 300 of the world’s largest business and public sector organisations. ISF says it is already seeing a shift from indiscriminate events to targeted attacks by organised crime groups developing sophisticated business models for extorting the e-economy and money laundering. It suggests that a combination of social engineering and technical attacks are increasingly being used to steal identities and information in order to commit fraud. “Criminal groups now see online crime as a lucrative and low risk alternative to robbing a bank,” says Andy Jones, a senior research consultant at the ISF and the report’s author. “And with the problems of protecting large volumes of sensitive information held in organisations electronically, businesses are also under increasing threat from targeted espionage and the loss of competitive advantage.” The ISF also warns users to watch for malware aimed at mobile devices, which do not have the same anti-virus or security controls as fixed networks and PCs. “Companies will face new challenges to manage and secure their corporate mobile devices to prevent employees from leaking information, either voluntarily or involuntarily,” says Jones.