Brian Jackson: A computer containing information about a next-generation U.S. fighter jet is attacked, the Dalai Lama’s office is infected with a Trojan, opposition newspapers in a former Soviet republic are hit with a DOS attack – it’s the reality of today’s cyber-security environment. A former director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s national cyber-security division warns that businesses are too complacent, and need a different mindset.
….Ron Deibert agrees that your typical, off-the-shelf antivirus won’t help guard against today’s more sophisticated threats. As director of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, Deibert was part of a team of Canadian researchers that recently uncovered a cyber-espionage network dubbed “GhostNet”. The network spanned 1,200 computers in 103 countries and about one-third of its targets were considered high-value.
Most cybercrime conducted is either done with a national interest, or an economic interest in mind, he adds. “More money was made by cybercrime in 2008 than in drug trafficking in the U.S.” ……