Security Slideshow: Cyber Crime Trends: Cisco's 2010 Annual Security Report
By Jennifer Lawinski | Posted 01-31-2011The End of Spam?
2010 was notable for the first-ever annual drop in global spam volume. Upticks were experienced in developed countries that have growing broadband access, such as the U.K., France and Germany.
The End of Spam?
Former spam targets like Brazil, China and Turkey experienced spam decreases due to high-profile takedowns of botnets like Waledac and Pushdo/Cutwail and ISP intervention.
Money Muling
Cybercriminals are gaining access to financial information all the time, and the need for mules to help funnel this money is growing. Mules set up accounts—or even use their own— to help criminals launder money.
Money Muling
These operations are growing increasingly sophisticated and are expanding on an international level. Cisco experts say money mules will be a major focus of cybercriminals in 2011.
Trust Exploitation
Cybercrime isn't always about technology exploits. Your employees' trust is easy to manipulate in social engineering scams.
Trust Exploitation
Whether by e-mail, chat or through social networking, cybercriminals exploit victims' "seven deadly weaknesses"1.sex appeal2.greed3.vanity4.trust
Beware
Based on data from 2010, Cisco predicts data-theft Trojans, Web exploits and money mules will become more common in 2011than they were in the prior 12 months.
Not Yet a Major Threat
Social networking scams will not be a major focus for cybercriminals in 2011. These remain a potential threat particularly as small parts of broad plans, such as Trojan attacks.
Moving Beyond Windows
After a decade of PC cyber-exploits focusing on the ubiquitous Windows operating system, improved security and aggressive vulnerability patching have made these less interesting targets than other, growing platforms.
Mobile Threats Rise
Mobile devices running on iOS and Android, and third-party mobile applications are becoming a serious threat vector.
