Between Phishers And The Deep Blue Sea
Hackers are often based in India, Korea, or China, with differing time zones and language barriers increasing the difficulty facing security enforcement agencies in the United States.
The most prevalent cyberattacks are carried out by a network of zombies, or compromised computers that are remotely controlled without notification to the computer’s owner.
Currently, China is home to 21 percent of new zombies with the United States at 17 percent and South Korea at 6.8 percent, according to CipherTrust.
Hackers overseas are carrying out attacks due to a high prevalence of broadband in China and South Korea but a lack of proper security software, according to Anti-Phishing Working Group Chairman David Jevans.
Another factor boosting the prevalence of overseas attackers is the fact that even small amounts of money provide significant incentive to a hacker in a developing country than to a hacker in the United States.
The Forum of Incident Response & Security Teams, an international clearinghouse for response to security incidents among government agencies, universities, and organizations, recommends companies implement a computer security incident response team, keep security patches and antivirus software updated, monitor network traffic for strange behavior, and join security groups in order to share valuable security information among members.
Meanwhile, a broad, international coalition of trade groups, companies, and law enforcement organizations are working to stem cyberattacks from abroad by tightening global cooperation and establishing automatic filtering systems to block email traffic from specific regions.
HoneyNet Project President Lance Spitzner says today’s hackers are in it for the money not fame. He says, “It’s not so much a security issue. It’s a crime issue now.”
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from CNet (07/18/05); Kawamoto, Dawn .
