Targeted and organised profit-driven attacks - planned
like bank raids - are replacing random individual hacker attacks
and presenting increased threats for businesses and government,
says the Information Security Forum (ISF).
This new breed of attacks, designed to steal valuable and
sensitive information or customer data for major financial gain are
being orchestrated by criminal networks that bring together
specialist skills and expertise, the ISF said.
Many criminal networks even place sleepers within organisations
to provide inside knowledge and access.
According to the ISF, profit-driven attacks have five phases:
reconnaissance to identify targets, development to plan the attack
and write malware, extraction of the data, exploitation by
advertising and selling stolen information, and finally the
laundering of the profits.
Normally there is a different person or team running each phase,
often operating from different parts of the world, making it
extremely difficult to track and trace.
Each group takes a slice of the profits with the criminal
ringleaders reaping the largest rewards, that can run into
millions.
"It's not dissimilar to the process of robbing a bank," said
Nick Frost, senior research consultant at the ISF. "The difference
is that this cybercrime is more sophisticated and harder to trace.
Most attacks are able to circumvent generic security controls,
whilst anti-forensic techniques are used to remove traces, such as
deleting system logs."
Advanced attack kits such as Limbo 2 Trojan are available online
with "non-detection-warranties", said Frost.
He said, "Most organisations do not have the necessary controls
in place to deal with these attacks, and the financial profits from
successful breaches are simply used to fund more sophisticated and
malicious attacks, creating a vicious cycle."
Typically, profit-driven attacks are targeted at high value
organisations or individuals.
"Spear phishing" is a common social-engineering technique used
to seek out data such as bank details or access credentials from
groups of customers or employees that can then be sold online.
So called "Whaling" targets hand-picked individuals, such as
wealthy billionaires and CEOs or those with privileged access
rights like database administrators.
The results of the last ISF Security Status Survey in 2007
showed a 50% increase in social engineering attacks in two
years.
"To reduce the risks from profit-driven attacks, organisations
need to focus on three key areas," said Frost. "Fundamental
security measures such as patch management and access control need
to be strengthened, along with often under-utilised controls such
as analysing event logs and implementing network sniffer tools.
"But in addition, organisations should consider using third
parties that monitor hacking forums to understand who is being
targeted, the types of information in demand and current
developments of sophisticated attack kits."
More information from the
security forum
Stuart King's blog:
Information security in China
How information security needs to ask the right questions