Danger bells rang once again in the digital world when confidential data of Sony Pictures were hacked by North Korean hackers recently. With smartphones and tablets fast becoming devices of daily use, the spotlight is now on the vulnerability of these devices to threats that are eyeing to attack.
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The cyber attack on the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which was built with US encouragement is seen as marking the beginning of a new era of cyber war. The Russian cyber spies are suspected in the attack on JP Morgan Chase. The Russian groups have become so emboldened that they targeted several German government websites, including the official page of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The US security establishment itself now boasts of 6,000 cyber warriors - the crack troops who are suspected to be behind the crippling of North Korean internet networks following the Sony attack - and is prepared for a digital Pearl Harbour. 2013 was called the year of mega breach by security analysts globally who saw an increase of 91% in targeted attacks and “hactivistsâ€.
Cyber attacks on leading business houses like Target, eBay, JP Morgan Chase, Adobe and Home Depot led to huge loss of credit card and debit card details of their customers due to Cryptolocker’ virus and ‘ransom ware’cyber attacks. Recently, Symantec, a software security major, uncovered a new piece of malware - Regin - which bears the hallmarks of a state-sponsored operation and is believed to have been in use since at least 2008. Symantec’s cyber threat intelligence had helped the firm identify some significant threats including Regin and other highly adept attack groups like the Dragonfly that was behind several sophisticated attacks on industrial control systems in the energy sector in the US and Europe.
Another malware, ‘Dragonfly’ is enabling access to targets and stealing information and is far more complex than Stuxnet, which was used to target Iran’s nuclear plants. Experts at Symantec believe many components of Regin remain undiscovered and it may have more versions and can perform more functions for cyber espionage and sabotage.
To successfully defend against targeted attacks, businesses need to expand their focus from prevention to detection and response. While the threat of attack on individual targets by immobilizing their cars and medical devices doesn't seem distant anymore, cyber criminals can inflict immense harm on companies by reaching them through their vendors, a soft underbelly according to Symantec, to steal data and intellectual property .There is a gang, ATP Group, which specifically targets hotel guests, while also attacking “smart meters' to disrupt power supply in cities.
