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(I-SoftwareNews.Com, November 26, 2012 ) San Francisco, CA -- Cyber attacks are dramatically on the rise as a result of Canadians not taking computer security seriously, expressed experts during a recent Ottawa security conference.
“The big problem is behaviour at this point,” Dean Turner, an intelligence expert for computer security giant Symantec, told delegates at conference sponsored by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries.
“How does that get installed on a system? You put it there,” said Turner. “One of my roles is to try to get customers and enterprises and consumers to understand just exactly how bad it is out there.” His observations are shared with other cyber security experts who paint a disheartening picture of the lawless side of cyberspace.
Ninety percent of all cyber attacks are against individuals, using malware to steal personal information for thefts and frauds. Eighty percent of all malware in Canada is launched by malicious Trojan horse computer codes masquerading as normal programs. These computer codes are usually hidden within free downloads off the Internet or on a USB stick.
Law breakers are becoming bolder and sophisticated in distributing denial-of-service attacks, compromising supply chains, rigging mergers and acquisitions, blatant espionage, and attempting to influence new Internet standards and system designs that foster their illegal agenda, said Dave MacMahon, a senior engineer and security expert at Bell Canada. “Canadians do not fully understand the threat, particularly because we fail to really be able to think in a purely diabolical way. The way that we perceive the threat and offensive operation is bound by our own morals, laws, mandates, capabilities and budgets,” he said.
However, large transnational criminal organizations, hacktivists, and some nations are guided by a very different thinking.
“Most of the folks that we’re dealing with, they’re telecom carriers and their significant platforms are their weapons platforms, their industry base is a weapons platform. What we need to start thinking about is not how we would attack, but how our adversaries are attacking and will attack.”
New worms, viruses, botnets, Trojans and other practices are constantly coming into view:
According to statistics compiled by Symantec, in 2011 there were more than 5.5 billion known cyber attacks worldwide. Of those, 403 million attacks used unique malware variants, an increase from 463,000 in 2004.
The highest method of infiltration is USB sticks. Infected email attachments rank low on the list.
Over the last 90 days in Canada, 48% of attacks have originated from the United States, though it’s believed some came from other countries and were routed through the U.S.
Attacks on personal, corporate, and government computers accounted for 13% in Canada. Attacks from China ranked third at 12%. During that same period, more than two million attacks have originated in Canada against individuals, companies and other nations.
To make matters worse, cyber villains are becoming more determined and persistent, with long-term approaches, said Adam Hatfield, director with the national cyber security directorate of Public Safety Canada.
“They’re looking at this as an enterprise, as a business, and saying, ‘OK, what’s our five-year, what’s our 10-year plan how we’re going to achieve our goals using cyber security vulnerabilities and exploits. They’re taking a very patient and very long-term view and our thinking has to reflect that,” he said.
From an early age, Canadians need to become much better educated regarding cyber security. This includes changing passwords every month, routinely updating manufacturers’ security patches, and maybe considering cyber safety features if purchasing a laptop, smartphone, and other devices.
Meanwhile, the private and public sectors need to collaborate more effectively while sharing sensitive information about risk and threats. There is also a need to define areas that need protection.
“Part of the problem is we do not know what needs to be protected, we have no idea,” said Turner. “Not all of our information is worth protecting and that’s very, very difficult for people to understand.”
The focus needs to be apprehending the bad guys. Currently, they do not care. They need to be tracked down. In addition, relationships need to be established between law enforcement and governments about what constitutes an actual crime and the field of cyber security expertise needs to be dramatically expanded.
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Source: EmailWire.Com 
Source: EmailWire.com
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