RSA CyberCrime Intelligence Service helps prevent data, identity theft

RSA, The Security Division of EMC, has announced the new RSA CyberCrime Intelligence Service designed to help organisations identify computers, information assets and identities compromised by Trojans and other online attacks.

The managed service is powered by the RSA Anti-Fraud Command Centre and helps IT professionals further understand and isolate possible points of exposure within their enterprise environments so they can adjust security controls and close gaps to better protect their organisations against the theft of corporate resources by fraudsters.

Advanced forms of malware such as the Zeus Trojan can silently capture a wide variety of data and credentials contained on enterprise computers and laptops, including proprietary information such as legal documents, healthcare records and corporate secrets.

However, many organisations are not aware of the impact of malware within their systems that pose a significant threat to their information and bottom line. Recent research by the RSA Anti-Fraud Command Centre reveals widespread compromise within networks belonging to Fortune 500 companies. Within this group of some of the world's largest corporations, RSA identified that 88% (441 in total) had systems accessed by infected machines and 60% of the firms (299 in total) had experienced stolen e-mail account information.

“We are seeing a celestial alignment within the world of online fraud, which means that a much broader segment of corporate Internet users are being targeted by criminals who are looking to steal more than just credit card numbers and consumer identities. Advanced, stealthy Trojans like Zeus that are detected less than 46% of the time are readily available to online criminals who are interested in stealing information for illegal gain,” according to Rob Watson, Country Manager for RSA in South Africa. “Moreover, we estimate that the wildfire infection of these Trojans has expanded 10 times between 2008 and 2009.”

The RSA CyberCrime Intelligence Service is designed to identify a subscribing organisation's compromised computers and user credentials, including those that are leveraged via remote access. It is engineered to provide information security professionals with actionable knowledge and information necessary to adjust policies and controls to prevent the loss of data to malware and careless employee activities. Security managers can use the information and analysis provided by the service to react to and remediate potential data exposures, employee identity theft, as well as infected corporate resources. The new service is based on the RSA FraudAction service and leverages 24x7 monitoring and detection, alerts and reporting provided by RSA's team of experienced fraud analysts.

“Many enterprise IT professionals accept 'good enough security'. They install tools to detect malware, enforce security policy, and monitor user behaviour. However sophisticated, targetable malware technology makes it difficult for security controls to defend the enterprise from organised criminal threats," said Sally Hudson, research director for Security Products at IDC. “To maintain the edge in protection, enterprises must have real-time knowledge and awareness of the current malware and threats that may be attacking computers in their extended enterprise. Armed with a better understanding of the threats to the enterprise, IT professionals can concentrate on providing effective security solutions and controls that will mitigate threats, ultimately reducing fraud, data loss, and intrusions.”

Offered as an outsourced managed service, the RSA CyberCrime Intelligence Service is quickly deployed and enables organisations to minimise resource investments. The RSA CyberCrime Intelligence Service will be available worldwide by 1 May 2010.