infoTECH Feature

November 18, 2015

Cyber Attacks Growing More Dangerous for Individuals and Businesses

Cyber attacks are becoming more impactful with a broader set of repercussions, according to new data from Trend Micro (News - Alert). The company has released its Q3 Security Roundup Report, finding that data breaches and other attacks are having a bigger impact on enterprise earnings as well as the physical safety and privacy of individuals.

The “Hazards Ahead: Current Vulnerabilities Prelude Impending Attacks” report focuses on both the vulnerabilities and aftermath of major security breaches and attacks. Trend Micro found that mobile platforms are becoming increasingly susceptible to breaches, presenting danger to individual and corporate users. The company warns that security gaps of the past quarter are setting the tone for potentially major security events in the coming year.

"The evolution of breaches is beginning to take a turn toward real-world effects on enterprises' bottom lines and people's lives," said Raimund Genes, CTO of Trend Micro. "The emergence of numerous vulnerabilities and other data breaches that occurred in this quarter are bound to release more confidential and potentially destructive information to the public, which could then be sold to the highest bidder on the Deep Web."

The Deep Web refers to the unindexed portion of the Internet, comprised of anonymous networks like TOR and Freenet. It is generally considered a safe haven for cybercriminals and those involved in the illegal trade of goods and services.

Last quarter’s Ashley Madison hack was perhaps one of the most noteworthy, in which stolen confidential information was used to go after specific victims and was leveraged for blackmail and other nefarious uses. The data breach was harmful to the company as well as more than 30 million users, with reports of suicides in the most extreme cases as a result of the attack.

Trend Micro found that over the past quarter, data breach hacks were used to ultimately fuel additional attacks and extortion in many cases. Weak points in mobile platforms are also becoming a major issue, particularly the recent discovery of vulnerabilities in Android (News - Alert). Cybercriminals have also begun using malware on PoS devices to perform spamming and other exploits, which has had an impact on small businesses.

Other security exploit trends over the past quarter include an increasing number of political personalities being the targets of espionage campaigns, and broader usage of the Angler Exploit Kit to distribute malware. An increased number of Internet-ready devices have also upped the chance of exploits, putting the general public at risk.




Edited by Kyle Piscioniere
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