Cyber Experts: Espionage, APTs, Malware among Most Dangerous Cyber Threats

Although cybersecurity experts have their separate ideas on what the most pressing Internet security concern is, they generally agree on one thing: The threat landscape is evolving into more attacks of increasing sophistication.

Here, 10 industry insiders offer their insight into what they believe are the most dangerous cyber threats, ranging from social engineering to cyber espionage.

Report Reveals Lax Attitudes toward Cyber Warfare

A new report by Sophos indicates a relaxed attitude to state-sponsored cyber crime with a majority of respondents saying it is OK for their country to spy on other nations by hacking or installing malware.

The Sophos Security Threat Report Mid-Year 2010 reveals how 63 percent of those polled believe it is acceptable for their…

Researchers Find New Cyber Espionage Attack

Security researchers have found a new exploit which is being used in targeted espionage attacks. The attacks utilize a USB device as the attack vector, according to researchers at F-Secure.

“The rootkit uses a LNK file that infects the operating system when viewed by an icon rendering file explorer such as Windows Explorer or Total Commander,” writes Sean Sullivan, a researcher with F-Secure.

The attacks is capable of circumventing…

Cyber Attacks via Excel?

In order to conduct cyber espionage, miscreants need to find a way to access victims’ computers remotely. This often takes the form of sending an infected document, generally a PDF, to the victim.

A new targeted attack has been discovered by researchers at F-Secure who look to take advantage of people’s greater trust in Excel files. Rather than send infected PDF documents, this cyber attack uses infected Excel files that…

Defense Firms Hit by Cyber Espionage at Arms Show

This week, France plays host to Eurosatory, one of the largest land-arms shows in the world, located near Paris. The exhibition space has representatives from more than 130 countries, according to Reuters.

The arms show is also a cyber sleuths heaven, with major defense contractors coming under siege from cyber espionage.

“It is very easy to go crawling over everybody’s …

Australian Cyber Crime Nets $70 Million Annually

Organized crime is estimated to be costing Australia $15 billion annually, according to The Age. Cyber crime alone account for nearly $70 million stolen each year.

The major avenues for cyber crime are hacking and identity theft that defrauds the Australian government, companies and private citizens of millions annually. The United States and Australia are working closely together to combat…

Cybersecurity Poses Significant Challenges for DoD, Government

Implementing cybersecurity measures poses significant challenges for the Department of Defense, the government and for critical infrastructure, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy James N. Miller said yesterday.

Miller said cybersecurity “is not a glass half full/glass half empty story.”

“There is a glass,” he said. “It has some water in it. The water is dirty, and we have an insatiable thirst in this area.”

Miller said…

Proxy Service Opens Hole for Spies to Slip Through

A number of organizations, both in government and the private sectors, restrict the use of social networking sites by employees at work stations, generally by employing a firewall filter. However, it appears that employees at some of these organizations are not exactly following company (or agency) policy.

In a recent blog post, author and researcher Jeff…

Opinion: Why We Don’t Hear About U.S. Cyber Espionage Efforts

Recently, someone left a comment on my article entitled “India Baits Chinese Hackers,” that rightfully pointed out that the Chinese are not the only individuals engaged in operations in cyberspace.

The commenter said “It’s a little bit insulting that the media is acting like no other nation in the world is involved in spying except the Chinese. Do you really…

Hackers Steal Emails, Sensitive Info from Dalai Lama, Indian Institutions

Indian national security information, emails and other sensitive documents were stolen from the Dalai Lama’s office, and the hackers have been traced to China, according to a report by researchers at the University of Toronto.

The report titled “Shadows in the Cloud: Investigating Cyber Espionage 2.0″ describes a hacking operation called the “Shadow network” that researchers observed as it broke into…