Symantec has rolled out a security initiative to educate online users around cyber crime threats exploiting the 2010 Fifa World Cup, which is just four months away.
Grant Brown, Symantec security specialist, says the Symantec 2010 NetThreat Web site is a proactive measure to build an information platform for online community members to interact with one another, as well as with security experts.
Brown points out: “Web-based attacks such as Trojans, botnets, phishing attempts and spam are going to significantly increase this year, but what will make these attacks different is that more of these attacks will have a 2010 World Cup theme to them.”
Increased broadband capacity, coupled with the tough economic climate, will have serious implications from a threat point of view to South African users, explains Brown.
“What we are going to see is an increase in fraudulent ticketing sales, promising cheaper tickets, as well as malware-infected Web sites providing general information about the World Cup.
“It's a cat-and-mouse game, and as soon as the good guys come up with a preventive measure, the bad guys seem to get around it,” adds Brown.
More users, more threats
This means the increasing number of new Internet users may not be fully prepared to protect themselves against these online risks, or understand what all the security threats are.
Steven Ambrose, MD of World Wide Worx Strategy, says: “A greater penetration of broadband will lead to greater attacks and greater threats. A broadband Internet user will spend more time online, which will increase the user's chance of picking up security problems.
“It's a high profile event, and Fifa has made it almost entirely geared towards online. Crime will always go where the people are and the more people that go online, the criminals will move into that direction. We saw a similar trend with the Beijing Olympics, which saw an increase in security threats.”
Growing threat
Symantec has already seen a spike in threat activity, with January revealing a higher number of 2010-related malicious sites than the last six months of 2009.
Another noticeable trend in October 2009 saw 36 out of every 100 000 spam messages relating to soccer or the World Cup; however, in January this figure dropped slightly, to 25.
Symantec says that, while the security giant is not an affiliated Fifa partner, its legal department worked through Fifa's 2010 guidelines before the Web site was given the go-ahead.
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