Idhries Ahmad

BANGALORE, INDIA: "From phishing attacks to crimeware, from vulnerabilities disclosed to zero-day exploits; 2007 was a big year for threats". (McAfee Avert Labs 2008 Report).

From amateurish attacks in the early 2000s, when hackers attacked to gain quick fame and make world stand up to their hacking prowess, 2007 saw internet attacks become more sophisticated and extremely deadly.

Major bank websites across the globe were hacked into and millions of dollars were phished, More than 100000 new viruses and Trojans (50 percent jump in the total number of threats ever cataloged) were recorded.

The Nuwar virus (a.k.a. Storm Worm) grew into the largest peer-to-peer (P2P) botnet to date, while TJ Max revealed the largest data breach in history (Ninety-four million credit- and debit-card numbers were stolen by hackers from the network of retailer TJ Maxx)

"Today's attackers are increasingly sophisticated and organized, and have begun to adopt methods that are similar to traditional software development and business practices", says Vishal Dhupar, MD, Symantec India.

What was even worrying and terrifying was the nexus that hackers built with world's deadliest underground crime gangs to exploit the most vulnerable and valuable data on the Internet.

"In many ways, today's attacker tools are a reflection of the burgeoning underground economy in that professional tools are needed to meet the demands of what has become a multi-billion dollar criminal industry," adds Dhupar.

If reports from leading security vendors are to be trusted, the situation gets even murkier in 2008. Hackers are working in overdrive to roll out sophisticated hacking kits and make their ties even more strong with criminal gangs, causing alarms for security agencies.

A CIOL Special on "Top Internet Security Trends 2008" gives a glimpse at how the Internet security situation will pan out in 2008. The special will carry detailed comments and analysis from leading security vendors (Symantec, McAfee, Cisco, Websense, Fortinet among others) on Internet security environment across globe supported by relevant data.