Malware is big money
My users often ask why people write malware. The simple answer is money. There are huge illegal businesses behind this type of cyber-crime and criminal organizations are making a huge profit from identity and data theft. Many of these organizations are based in Russia and China. The days of teenagers writing viruses in their parent's basement to impress their online buddies are over. Malware is big money now.
Labels: computer crime, Malware
posted by oncee at 5:05 AM
4 Comments:
May I ask you some question about malware observations within the context of the legal industry?
Sure.
This is part of a study I am conducting for an essay.
• Does your firm track malware infections?
• If so, is the occurrence rising?
• What are the types of viruses and worms your co-workers and you have encountered?
• Have you and your colleagues encountered other types of malicious code such as harmful Java applets and ActiveX controls?
• What about denial-of-service attacks?
• What have been the consequences of such infections and attacks?
• Are there cost estimates that have been conducted, regarding the the magnitude of the problem within your firm or the legal industry in general?
• How are you (or the legal industry in general) affected by the latest virus or worm outbreak?
If you would like to weigh in on only one aspect, that is perfectly fine and I'd be grateful.
• Does your firm track malware infections?
We do track malware infections.
• If so, is the occurrence rising?
Infections are increasing this year.
• What are the types of viruses and worms your co-workers and you have encountered?
We encountered a nasty 0-day variant of Virut back in Feb.
• Have you and your colleagues encountered other types of malicious code such as harmful Java applets and ActiveX controls?
Unknown. Since we rarely have time to do forensics on an infected computer we don't always know the complete nature or extent of an infection.
The largest growing attack vector is web attacks such as iframe attacks.
• What about denial-of-service attacks?
We have not suffered DOS attacks.
• What have been the consequences of such infections and attacks?
Downtime. The lost of productivity.
• Are there cost estimates that have been conducted, regarding the the magnitude of the problem within your firm or the legal industry in general?
We do have a handle on cost. I'm unaware of any cost figure for the industry in general.
• How are you (or the legal industry in general) affected by the latest virus or worm outbreak?
With threats always present and changing it's important to keep up-to-date on all the latest info. New threats such as web attacks and high profile worms have firms looking more closely at their security plans and budgets.
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