Emergency.Blog

Cyber Crime Hits the Big Time in 2006; 2007 May Be Even Worse

24 Dec 2006

Cyber Crime Hits the Big Time in 2006
Experts Say 2007 Will Be Even More Treacherous...

By Brian Krebs, washingtonpost.com

Call it the "year of computing dangerously." Computer security experts say 2006 saw an unprecedented spike in junk e-mail and sophisticated online attacks from increasingly organized cyber crooks. These attacks were made possible, in part, by a huge increase in the number of security holes identified in widely used software products.

Internet users witnessed yet another wave of spam, worms, viruses and other online attacks in 2005, and experts predict the online world will grow even more dangerous this year.

Thieves are no longer only after your wallet, jewels or other precious belongings. Instead, they want you. Learn how to protect yourself and what to do if you're a victim.

Few Internet security watchers believe 2007 will be any brighter for the millions of fraud-weary consumers already struggling to stay abreast of new computer security threats and avoiding clever scams when banking, shopping or just surfing online.

One of the best measures of the rise in cyber crime this year is spam. More than 90 percent of all e-mail sent online in October was unsolicited junk mail messages, according to Postini, a San Carlos, Calif.-based e-mail security firm. The volume of spam shot up 60 percent in the past two months alone as spammers began embedding their messages in images to evade junk e-mail filters that search for particular words and phrases. Get the whole story on anticipated cybercrime, visit the Washington Post website at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/22/AR2006122200367.html

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The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C).

IC3's mission is to serve as a vehicle to receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints regarding the rapidly expanding arena of cyber crime. The IC3 gives the victims of cyber crime a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of suspected criminal or civil violations. For law enforcement and regulatory agencies at the federal, state, local and international level, IC3 provides a central referral mechanism for complaints involving Internet related crimes. read more >>

File a Complaint >> Go to: http://www.ic3.gov/

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Protect Your Workplace; Report Suspicious Cyber-Activity Poster

We encourage you to report any activities that you feel meet these criteria for an incident. Note that our policy is to keep any information specific to your site and system confidential unless we receive your permission to release that information. US-CERT has partnered with law enforcement agencies such as the U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate cyber incidents and prosecute cyber criminals. Download the .PDF poster at: http://www.us-cert.gov/reading_room/poster_2.pdf

Report an incident to the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team

Incident Hotline: 1-888-282-08700

www.US-CERT.gov