IT security defences are unable to cope with e-crime operations
that are now at the heart of a professional and well organised
underground economy.
Cyber crime operations are using automated tools to change
continually the IP addresses of databases used to collect and
deliver stolen access credentials, says security researcher
Ian Amit.
Amit, director of security research at Israel-based Aladdin
Knowledge systems, made this discovery after gaining access to a
criminal database containing access details for 200,000 web
servers belonging to big organisations including the BBC.
The number of compromised websites dropped immediately after
internet security organisation CERT and law enforcement agencies
contacted affected organisations.
However, a subsequent sharp rise in similar attacks on
previously unaffected servers and websites shows just how
ineffective traditional defences are in dealing with these attacks,
said Amit.
"Only by understanding the tools and technology being used by
these underground criminal operations can we attempt to handle
e-crime properly," he told Computer Weekly.
He said business, security suppliers and law enforcement
agencies needed to collaborate to build as complete a picture as
possible of techniques used by cyber-criminals.
A lot more research will need to be done in this area, said
Amit, but by understanding the algorithms used by criminals to
reassign IP addresses, security professionals can anticipate and
block future attacks.
This and other strategies used by e-criminals are detailed in
Aladdin's latest Attack Intelligence Research Center
report.
"I hope the report will act as a catalyst to encourage security
professionals to look behind the scenes rather than concentrate
only on the effects of attacks on end-users," said Amit.
A lot more attention should be paid to giving home users the
same quality of protection as corporate users, he said, because
criminals are still able to make a lot of money going after softer
targets.
"Enterprise level security needs to be put in the hands of home
users to cut an important source of funding for criminal
operations,"