2013 Cyber Summary: More Attacks, More Sophistication

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The volume of cyber attacks keeps growing: 91% of organizations worldwide suffered at least one cyber attack in 2013, with 9% being the victim of many focused, well planned attacks aimed at infecting their network infrastructure. This according to an annual Kaspersky Lab report.

One of the major findings was the emergence of “cyber mercenaries”. These are groups of hackers who target a wide variety of organizations. Their usual pattern: Staying inside the infected networks for just a few weeks, stealing every piece of information they can get their hands on. The longer they stay the harder it becomes to remain undetected. Cyber mercenaries usually operate in a “hit and run” fashion, researching their target, striking with precision and then vanishing. These are organized groups of people conducting cyber-attack operations for money.

IHLS – Israel Homeland Security

Other findings in the Kaspersky 2013 report:

• Malware-based attacks against several governments were detected
• Most cyber crime events involved stealing information
• There was a noticeable trend of attacking subcontractors instead of going after the big organizations
• Many net attacks were based on sabotage, meaning using malware to delete information or to block infrastructure
• Researchers identified hackers capable of stealing money through online banking systems
• Mass spreading of malicious code might affect any company, leading to loss of income and assets
• Cyber criminals continuously improve their malicious codes, using them in unforeseen and unconventional ways