Cyber crime soars

By Staff Writer for Kaspersky
Johannesburg, 20 Mar 2009

Cyber crime has reached market saturation point and competition is fierce on a global scale, said Alexander Gostev, head of the Global Research and Analysis Team at Kaspersky Lab.

Russian, Chinese, Brazilian, Ukrainian and Turkish cyber criminals are the most prominent, competing for customers and better channels in which to conduct their crime, Gostev said.

The Kaspersky 'Security Bulletin: Malware evolution 2008', highlights current and future trends in the industry. The software security firm predicts that sophisticated malware, rootkits, bootkits and mobile threats are just some of the vulnerabilities prevalent this year, as virus technologies continue to evolve and mutate as soon as they are discovered.

Kaspersky Lab experts also link cyber crime to the rise of unemployment amid the global economic downturn, and predict that highly skilled programmers are likely to resort to online crime due to a lack of income. This will result in even bigger competition among cyber criminals.

Kaspersky Lab forecasts a drop in gaming Trojan activity, which it claims is in contrast to the opinions held by its competitors. According to Kaspersky, Trojans are predominantly created by Chinese cyber criminals due, in point, to the sheer size of the Asian online gaming fraternity. As a result, the theft of virtual assets no longer automatically equates to large profits.

Stiff competition, anti-virus software and users becoming more security savvy have all played a role in thwarting the spread of these Trojans, and gaming companies have taken steps to stop illegal operations with stolen accounts and assets.