Cyber crime turns to cyber war

The global security industry has shifted from being cyber crime-driven to become cyber war-orientated.

This is according to Charl van der Walt, MD of Sensepost, who will be speaking at this year's ITWeb Security Summit.

The sixth annual Security Summit will take place from 10 to 12 May, at the Sandton Convention Centre.

“We are seeing three major security drivers this year. This first is a political driver, where we are seeing a move by cyber criminals changing from the realm of the hobbyist to the realm of the professional.”

Van der Walt says this has changed how businesses think about cyber crime and invest in security practices. He says cyber criminals have become smarter and more organised.

“The second major driver includes attacks being made against Google and the emergence of sophisticated Trojans such as Zeus attacking mobile applications.

“The third and most visible security trend is the Stuxnet virus; which is being directed for political reasons.”

In addition, she says there will be talks for the technically-minded, covering mobile security for HTC Android and iPhone users.

The event will also reveal the evolution of online auction algorithms in the ongoing battle between auctioneers and malicious bidders, and insight into the world of hackers and how they use readily available attack toolkits to compromise enterprise security.

“2011 is also the year Security Summit connects with the information security community - practitioners, industry experts, bloggers, activists and everyone else who is passionate about security - before and during the annual event,” says du Plessis.

Some international guest speakers who will be present at the Summit include Dan Crisp, strategic director of Barclays Bank global operational risk initiatives, Robert Fly, Salesforce.com head of product security, Rick Ferguson, solutions architect at Trend Micro, and Sinisha Patkovic, director of BlackBerry Security.