Cybercrime set to develop its own economy

Hackers and criminals will share more tools, says Websense

Organised criminals will join forces with the hacker community to form a more organised cybercrime economy, predicts vendor Websense.

Criminals will buy, sell and trade hot commodities such as ready made cyber-attack toolkits and exploits to carry out zero-day vulnerabilities.

Websense experts also predict that Web 2.0 security issues will escalate as these technologies are rolled out in mass with security as an afterthought.

Dan Hubbard, vice president of security research, Websense, said:'Organised criminals are realising that the internet has been a largely untapped resource in terms of generating real profit—until now. With financial gain on the table, attack methods are improving, and the number of people involved is escalating.'

'Tools and exploits to steal personal, business and financial information are the hottest commodities for cyber-criminals. Next year in particular, it’s highly important for organizations to have preventative measures in place to protect themselves from the next wave of increasingly covert and targeted attacks,' said Hubbard.

Websense also predicts a rise in exploits in anti-phishing toolbar technology, the enhanced concealment of data to evade leakage prevention, and increased use of encryption and custom packing of BOTs.

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