'Phishing' networks add to cyber crime

PUNE: Crime pays and cyber crime pays even better, going by the findings of the Internet Security Threat Report Volume XI released by Symantec Corp. Cyber crimes cover the gamut of data theft, data leakage and the creation of targeted, malicious code to steal confidential information for financial gain.

Not only is cyber crime becoming all pervasive, stolen personal data is available at fairly low prices, ranging from $1-6 for credit cards with a card verification number while an identity, including a US bank account, credit card, date of birth and government issued identification number, being available for between $14-18.

There is another trend emerging, of cyber criminals joining hands to form cooperative networks. The report notes, “Cyber criminals continue to refine their attack methods in an attempt to remain undetected and to create global, cooperative networks to support the ongoing growth
of criminal activity.”

Symantec’s six monthly report, from July 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006 is based on data collected from more than 40,000 sensors deployed in over 180 countries. The multi-billion dollar security products and data storage company also reviews more than two million decoy accounts that attract e-mail messages from 20 countries, which allows it to gauge global spam and phishing activity.

For the first time, the Symantec report has identified the countries with the highest amount of malicious activity originating from their networks. The US had the highest proportion of overall malicious activity, at 31%. China was second, with 10% and Germany was third with 7%.

Symantec also tracked the trade of stolen confidential information and captured data frequently sold on underground economy servers. These are servers used by criminals to sell information for subsequent use in identity theft and include social security numbers, credit cards, personal identification numbers (PINs), and e-mail address lists. The report notes that during the last six months of 2006, 51% of all known underground economy servers in the world were located in the US.