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Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Online crime’s impact spreads
The latest estimate: $200 billion a year, rivaling the illicit markets for drug trafficking and money laundering, according to several security experts and law-enforcement officials. The hazards of surfing and shopping online have shaken consumer confidence in e-commerce.
Nearly 60% of Americans are fearful someone will steal their account passwords when they bank online, and 38% do not trust making payments online, according to a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults conducted by TNS Sofres on behalf of digital-security company Gemalto.
Bank accounts were the most commonly advertised item for sale on underground computer servers, accounting for 22% of all items in the last six months of 2007, according to a Symantec report this week.
Several analysts, including John Pescatore of Gartner, point to the escalating threat of bots, sprawling networks of compromised PCs controlled by criminal groups. The top bot nets send a staggering 100 billion spam e-mail messages each day, SecureWorks says.
Speaking of spam and other forms of malicious software code, hackers are using YouTube videos to advertise their goods.
In one post, a group from Albania offers to illegally break into corporate networks to steal data and implant malware, says Don Jackson, director of threat intelligence at SecureWorks.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2008-04-10-cybercrime-computer-security_N.htm