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Submitted by: Bill Hickey
NCVA List Master

NRT-0100 Cybercriminal Collaboration evident:

New evidence points to increased cooperation between malware writers worldwide, according to security experts cited in a foreign press report. Cyber criminals, specifically virus authors and botnet operators, may be teaming more frequently with people in other regions of the world to help facilitate their respective attacks, said Chris Boyd, the UK-based director of malware research at US-based security firm FaceTime Labs. Boyd said there is even mounting evidence that hackers in China are teaming with their western counterparts. "It was previously unthinkable that hackers in the west and China would be working together, but we're increasingly seeing interplay of code," Boyd said. The new techniques seen suggest the Chinese hackers are turning to westerners to learn the subtleties of tricking people outside their country into falling for attacks, while the westerners are likely asking for techniques for avoiding detection. International hacker cooperation can also allow threat writers to share popular cultural items that make their social engineering ploys more effective. Craig Schmugar, threat research manager for McAfee's Avert Labs, said the increased cooperation between hackers might also introduce more opportunities for researchers and law enforcement to infiltrate their ranks.

(computerworld.com.au 21MAR07)

Last Modified: Saturday, 31-Mar-2007 10:00:02 EST