M86 Security predicts next year's Internet threats

David Heath
Wednesday, 16 November 2011 12:34

Business IT - Security

There is merit in knowing (in general) where the major Internet threats will come from in the near future.  Clearly, we can't predict the exact future, but we can extrapolate the trends.

M86 Security has taken out their crystal ball to attempt to see where the threats will come from.  Broadly, as they see it there will be an escalation in targeted attacks and also an increase mobile malware (presumably mainly Android-based).  Continued social engineering will also occur.

Here are their top ten threats.

Targeted attacks to grow more damaging and complex.

So-called Advanced Persistent Threats will become more prevalent both from unknown players (including corporate and government) and from well-known players such as Anonymous and LulzSec.

The reputational damage, as well as actual financial costs are growing - and this might actually improve the attention of organisations to become more resilient.  Or perhaps not.

These attacks will grow more complex - after all, we know that Stuxnet (for instance) made use of a valid digital certificate and exploited a number of unknown vulnerabilities.

Illicit social media scams will escalate.

No, the dying boy will not get better if you friend his mother.  No, well-known-company-x will not give you $50 for doing something pointless.  In many cases, these campaigns are not benign, they will be a delivery mechanism for something far more nasty.  Alternately, they may be part of a clickjacking campaign to deliver hits to a specific customer.

People are gullible, we can't fix that.